BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: CURSED EYES
by coso
Summary: Xander oes as Uchiha Itachi during the Halloween and gains his abilities, and now the destiny of the Scoobies and his own is irrevocably changed.
1. Chapter 1

**BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: CURSED EYES**

AUTHOR: coso

DISCLAIMER: This story is mine, although the people in it are not. I do not own Buffy, or Naruto, but I've taken liberties with their characters. Same for other stories i used in this one.

SUMMARY: Yet another Halloween fiasco for our Xander Harris. He chose to go as a different type of soldier that fated night, as a loyal soldier of Konoha, Uchiha Itachi. And nothing was the same any more.

________________________________________________________________________

**PROLOGUE**

I woke up screaming and trashing on my bed, sweat covering my body. Oh, what a nightmare. My hands were shaking , and I was really rattled. I went to the bathroom and took a piss, my bladder reacted poorly to the stress. Then I puked, just for the finish, yeah. I guess that's what people do when in shock.

All those deaths and blood, cut limbs and bloody corpses – now forever burned into my long term memory. I knew now what that word meant. It meant I would never forget, ever. I washed my face and my mouth over the sink in my bathroom, then slowly dared to look at myself in the mirror.

Crap, crap and hell. My eyes were red. Bright red, with one comma in each pupil. I blinked in surprise, and they were dark brown again. Was it my scarred imagination? I nervously swallowed and closed my eyelids and concentrated, being guided by foreign memories and skill, gained by bad luck and magic of the capricious deity. Warm feeling in my eyes made me open them, and they were red again. Shiiiit.

Yep, the Harris luck struck again. Let me introduce myself. My name is Xander Harris, of Sunnydale, California. I am sixteen and in the occasional chances a fighter against dark forces. When I am not a high school student, that is. Actually, that is both at the same time, since my town is also sitting atop the Mouth of Hell, which is a portal to Hell. Which one, I don't know. I was told that there are many helldimensions, all very unpleasant for people.

So, being the city over the helldimension, Sunnydale tends to attract it's denizens in greater concentrations than anywhere else in the world. Yea, the demons are real. The most common variant are the undead, vampires. Magic is real too, and very dangerous as I've experienced it's bad effects. Witches, warlocks and other nasties regularily visit my town and try to cause as much mayhem and deaths as possible.

How come i know this much? Well, I stumbled onto it a year ago when she came to Sunnydale. Her name is Buffy Summers, and she is the Slayer, one girl chosen to fight the darkness. She is bestowed with superhuman strength, speed, stamina and combat skills. A Wonder Woman. She is also very hot little blonde with body to die for.

When I met her, I caused her to drop her bag, and I saw she had a wooden stake in it. Also, instead of telling her " Can I help you" I said " Can I have you?" Way cool, don't you agree?

Anyway, there was something about her and I decided to check her out more. I ended in the library, listening her talk with the new librarian, Mr. Giles. They babbled nonsense about vampires, and I was weirded out. I was beginning to think there was a cult in town, or something like that.

Next step of my stalking involved going to The Bronze, a local disco bar, very popular with highschoolers. Obviously the same went for vampires, since two of them picked up my best friends as dinner. My first best friend was Willow Rosenberg, shy Jewish girl who was also a genius. The other was Jesse Mcnally, my best bud, my almost brother. We only lacked blood relation.

One thing led to another, and I watched Buffy fight off two people with disfigured faces and fangs. I managed to pry Willow from them, but Jesse was gone by the time fight was over. The next time I met him, he was already one of them, and trying to kill us. I helped Buffy escape from the sewer where they set a trap for her.

Our second meeting occurred at night in The Bronze. Some old vampire, named The Master was trying to rise from the Hellmouth so he sent his servants to kill the occupants of the place and send him their energy, or something like that. Anyway, Buffy was slaying them left and right, and I helped Giles and Willow free the people from other vamps, including Jesse.

He was just about to kill Cordelia Chase, the social queen of our highschool society by money, looks and grades. She had scathing attitude towards those uncool, meaning nerds and freaks, just as is proper for the girl of her status. Me and Wills hated her, and I loved to insult her, but I have to admit she was one hot looking girl. Jesse loved her, proving that love was forgiving if not blind. Cordelia couldn't stand him, and now he was going to eat her.

I confronted him with my cross and stake, and he tried to explain how great it was to be a vampire. I tried to reason with him, to convince him to be good again. He laughed and went for my throat, but my cross prevented him. Then someone pushed him from behind and he fell upon my stake and turned into ashes.

" You should not feel guilt for his destructin, your friend was already dead. What you saw die was just the thing that stole his face." Giles said, trying to comfort me.

That night I cried till dawn arose, and went to school with intent to destroy as many vampires as possible. At the least by helping Buffy do it. So the year passed and we successfully saved the world in the end. But after summer, the slaying season was on again. We were openly joined by Angel, a former evil undead who got cursed with soul thus becoming a good guy again.

Angel was in love with Buffy. She was in love with him. I was in love and lust with her, and him I hated. He was cool, both figuratively and literally, since he was a vampire.

As I said , I was just a normal teenage guy helping Buffy fight the dark forces. I was kinda hoping she would go out with me. The chance was slim, but still there. Then came the day of yesterday, the Halloween.

I was with Willow and Buffy, in the halls of our educational institution discussing the lack of the demonic activity.

" Giles said that I am free tonight to do as I like, since the Halloween is the one night when demons stay at home." Buffy explained happily, relishing the thought of free evening.

" Really?" I said in surprise. " I thought that it would be a great vampire scare a palooza tonight. I guess that's why I love demons, they always keep you guessing."

Willow said nothing, being busy putting her stuff in her locker. That's when Snyder, our tiny principal with trollish personality , approached Buffy and forcibly enlisted her participation in babysitting the children during our annual Halloween trick 'n' treat. The costume was mandatory. Misery loves the company, so he included me and Willow too. What a drag.

That evening I went to Ethan's costume shop with the girls. They went to fetch themselves girly dresses, while I was trying to find something good and cheap since I was short on the money. Buffy sought to impress Angel and took a dress of the noblewoman from a few centuries ago, since it belonged to the period Angel was born in. He was like over two hundred, and still stalking Buffy. Child molestation, that's what it was.

Ethan, the guy who owned the shop, approached me and smiled oily, trying to sell his stuff. " Since those two ladies were willing to splurge a lot of money, I am willing to give you a good deal. " he said. I smiled in embarrassment, trying to hide my toy gun. " You know, your accent reminds me of G-man." I said, and he frowned in confusion.

" I meant, Mr. Giles, our schoolteacher." My explanation sealed my fate.

He grinned again. " Well, well, well. You know my old buddy Rupert Giles. What a small world this be. For that, I'll give you a special offer, follow me."

He showed me a mannequin wearing a black cloak with red clouds, and a metal headband with some swirly symbol that was scratched over. When I asked him about it, he shrugged. " It's a Japanese costume, from one of their comics. Supposedly this guy was a ninja and a good one, with great powers and skills. I couldn't sell it yet, so why don't you try it? "

We closed the deal quickly ,and Ethan just reminded me to tell G-man it was him who sold me the costume, as a gift for his friend's friend. The rest is history. I had vague memories of Itachi stumbling onto Willow and Buffy, of our defense in Buffy's home and how Itachi scared Angel. Itachi easily killed off real vampires after helpless Buffy, being able to see the difference between real demons and fake ones. Giles did the rest, forcing Ethan to tell him how to stop the spell.

And now I was left with his memories in my head. And his cursed bloodline. He was a good guy, in the loosiest senseof the word. A martyr actually. He was a ninja, but not like those from movies. His type of ninjas were capable of superhuman feats that would put even a Slayer to shame.

Super fast, super strong, capable of using elemental attacks like witches or wizards and so on. Itachi was among the best there was. He would have beaten Buffy with ease. But he also was a killer, I think he killed more people than some demons. In the end, he also killed his whole clan, except for his younger brother, on orders from hid village's leadership to prevent his clan's rebellion.

All of that to save his brother. His clan was strong, but cursed by greed for power. Their eyes were powerful, able to copy any technique they saw. They were able to see through illusions, to slow down and predict enemy movement. But there was another level, called the Mangekyou Sharingan. To activate it, a member of his clan had to see the death of the person they were closest to, usually by causing it. Itachi killed his best friend to gain it.

He was told about it by Uchiha Madara who also unlocked that power, the Mangekyo. Madara went further than that and took his brother's eyes and gained flawless Mangekyou, because normal Mangekyou caused a loss of health and eyesight.

Madara discovered it's weakness in the days before the formation of Konoha, when he used it to gain leadership over other Uchiha. His brother helped him. But Madara used it too often and got blind faster than his brother. In the end he took Izuna's eyes claiming that his brother willingly let him, in order to save the clan.

The Uchiha grew even stronger, and often fought and conquered other ninja clans. Only the Senju clan resisted, even often defeated them. They fought, until the Senju offered a truce and joining of power. The Uchiha overruled Madara and accepted the deal, because they were tired of death and fighting. And thus Konoha was born, the first hidden ninja village. Which led to formation of the united Fire Country.

But Madara was not chosen to be the leader of the village, instead the leader of the Senju clan became the First Hokage. So Madara went away and became the first missing nin in history. He survived the fight with the First, barely, and spent next sixty to seventy years plotting against Konoha, and his own clan that rejected him.

Itachi, after killing the clan ,joined Madara to spy on him and his organisation. He died after the fight with his brother, who became obsessed with revenge, enough to betray Konoha too. Sasuke joined forces with another criminal from Konoha, a legendary ninja Orochimaru. He studied under him to grow more powerful, and it seemingly worked. But the truth was, Itachi was sick and loosing eyesight. His goal was to manipulate Sauske into being disgusted with the idea of gaining the Mangekyou. He died not knowing what would become of his little brother. An he left me with his memories too. I had his dreams, hopes and guilt. I had his ability to use chakra, and his bloodlimit. That meant I had the power to kill vampires and help Buffy even more than before. But I was weaker, unconditioned.

I glanced at my clock and , and I knew dawn was near.

I went up, and ate breakfast. The school started at nine am. It was time to run.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 0NE**

By the time I entered the school, I was already feeling better. I have to say that running is a difficult business. My muscles ached, I had chest pain and I tired fast. I was really out of shape! For example, I took part in slayage, but mostly as spectator and cheering buddy for Buffy.

I did run from vampires, but just because I had to. This training was different, but I had to continue. Itachi's memories told me I had a lot of bad habits to overcome. Man, what a pain.

Bright and shiny Sunnydale High filled my view. I felt sick. It was a place where all these blind kids went like sheep, ignoring the real world around them. There were lots of people here, jocks, nerds, cheerleaders, punkers, name it- we had it. One thing they all had in common was that they were potential dinner for vamps, or sacrifices for demons or witches. Take a pick!

Itachi's training kicked in, so I idly noted the layout of the halls, potential exits , ambush sites. It all felt so natural now. Scary.

I spotted Buffy and Wills waiting for me. I smiled happily at them. " Hi girls! What's the what? " They grinned back, and Buffy slapped me on the shoulder as I stepped next to her. " Nothing Xander, we've been discussing girl stuff, you know." She said. Cordelia passed us by, with her flock of followers, never acknowledging our presence. Good old Cordelia. Not as stupid as her company, she was an unofficial member of our gang. She knew of the bad stuff, but she never openly admitted it. I think she was still hoping that this was all just a nightmare.

We ignored her back, and all was well in the world. When we went to our classes, I actually understood stuff like math and physics, chemistry and especially biology. Hoorah, I had some of the Itachi's smarts too!

Our lunch break came and we crammed ourselves with crappy food and went to the library. Cordy managed to slip there too, unnoticed.

" Hi G-man, how 's it going? " I said jovially, and enjoyed his grimace at the use of that annoying nickname.

" Xander, how many times I have to ask you to stop calling me that ? "

" Many more, many more G-man! "

Cordelia just sat down and started doing her nails, she had the focus to be admired.

" Hello Mr. Giles ! " Willow said, sitting opposite of Cordelia, next to Buffy who just flopped down in her chair. Giles took time to observe us. " Er, um I was wondering if any of you had any lasting aftereffects of the spell? "

Buffy perked up. " Oh, I think I'm going to pass French this year easily."

Giles sighed, then looked at me and Willow. Willow shook her head. I shrugged, trying to stay cool as if nothing happened. But I could not lie outright, so I listened to that clever part of myself, the wise Xander as I called it. " Sorry I don't remember much about the Halloween, but I do remember the guy who owned my body last night. I know Japanese now, I mean I can speak it and write. Oh, I know all the ninja stuff, like fighting skills, weapons use and all that. The guy was the real pro. "

Cordelia snorted. " Great. Doofus now can mumble in Japanese and can kill people with needles. "

Giles glared at her, so she shut up. He looked at me with concern. " Xander are you all right? "

Wills looked worried now, and Buffy seemed uncomfortable. I think she remembered more than the rest of us. I sighed in defeat. " I'm fine, don't worry. The guy was a real killer for hire, and a good one too. I remember his jobs, and I am not happy about it. I guess I can understand how Angel feels now, with what Angelus once did in his those memories, I know they aren't mine, but they fell as they are. I'll get over it eventually."

Buffy melted at my words, putting her hand on mine and squeezing gently, expressing support. " I'm so sorry Xander. You should not have gone through that. If you need us, we will be there for you." For some reason I didn't feel the usual lust when she touched me, so I squeezed back. " Thanks Buffy, but I'll deal with it. You better count on that."

It felt odd to be immune to Buffy's presence. I guess Itachi's habbits were rubbing on me already. He wasn't gay, just very focused. In his world, if it really existed, women were extremely dangerous opponents. And so was Buffy.

That gave me an idea. " Hey Buffy, I could show you a few things now, how to fight better, how to use swords and knives. You will love it! "

Buffy was dubious, her lips making that cute o, but Giles agreed with my idea.

" I would certainly like to see your suggestions Xander. Buffy, you should accept his offer if anything is to be judged from his actions last night. His ghost tenant was quite formidable. Besides, Xander could use some practice with his new skills too."

Buffy relented at that, laughed jokingly. " Well it's a date Xander, after school."

I responded in kind." Yeah, please don't break me in half."

***

I remained in the library after school for my first training session with Buffy. Afterwards I was helping Giles to clean up. I hated him at the moment. Buffy was fantastic, she was able to learn some of the moves I taught in minutes, just after few tries. Itachi in me was impressed, she behaved as if she had the Sharingan herself. But unlike the Uchiha who copied and then had to practice to make the moves truly theirs, Buffy did the opposite. She absorbed the move and directly translated it into her skill set, and it seemed more like she was remembering long unused skill than learning.

I took a quick peek at her and Giles during the practice using my dojutsu, and her energy was enormous. As I suspected, she had chakra of sorts, just as Giles did. Hers was mostly dark yellow, blue and red, but it felt odd watching it. It seemed not a part of her, but more like it was inside her, deep and hidden. My guess was that Buffy was using only a fraction of the true Slayer power.

To my surprise Giles had strong chakra aura too-blue, with dark patch on his left arm below his elbow. Like a seal of sorts.

I accepted his offer for dinner, I was hungry. We sat at the small dinner, waiting for our food. " Thanks for the dinner Giles, I usually would not accept, but I'm wiped. Buffy is sure energetic."

He smiled knowingly. " Now you know how I feel. Don't think I'll hesitate to use you again. So eat Alexander, you deserved it."

Crap. He called me Alexander. That spells trouble for me. I watched him as he ate, and he watched me.

" You know Japanese now, right?" he asked.

" Pretty much so, yes." I answered, not bothering to expand on it. He was obviously going to reach the real question in a time very soon. He nodded, satisfied. " Good, I do have some books in Japanese I'd like to have translated. I could use yor help. After I test your knowledge, of course."

" Sure, why not? " I replied. Who knows, I might learn something useful.

" Excellent. Now let's talk about your new abilities."

" My what? "

Giles gave me his knowing, patient gaze. " Please, don't think I am a fool boy. I saw your eyes when you used them during the practice, when you believed I was not paying attention."

Fuck, so much for keeping secret! But this was G-man, the guy I trusted with my life . So I spilled the beans, the whole, ugly truth. Thank God, he listened, never pretending sympathy. After I was done, I waited for his verdict. It was funny.

" You are an idiot, aren't you?" Giles spoke softly. " How long did you think you would have been able to live with that alone? Before cracking, I mean."

I stared, because i didn't understand. He sighed. " Listen, I know you will try to use your new abilities for good. But Xander, power corrupts, no matter how small or great. Before you can even notice, you are already on the bad side. I know it from experience. "

I remembered his dark splotch. " Does that have anything to do with that dark spot on your arm? "

He nodded , hesitating. " Y-yes, it does. I was young and stupid. I ran with some friends the dark magic group. We were feared in the London underworld, and we liked it.

But one time, a friend died and we disbanded. It was a bad wake up call. Ethan never woke up, he went deeper."

" What do we do now then? "

" We keep it a secret for a while." He said. " I will not tell the Council, I'm sure you have an idea what would they do. Indeed, I'm editing the reports already somewhat, so this won't be a big thing."

" You seem to have bad relations with your bosses G-man." I commented dryly.

Giles smiled, it was painful and humorless. " Bad doesn't cover it. Honestly, I suspect I was sent to die here, along with Buffy. My family still has some influence and Travers probably tried to lessen it by relieving it of it's last heir. Plus, getting rid of the colonial uneducated and rude Slayer would not be unwelcome."

Something must have showed on my face, because he hurried to assure me. " Believe me, that is not a common opinion, especially not with me. Most of the Watchers believe that Slayer is always the Slayer, regardless of her origin. And Buffy, for all her quirks is an exceptional Slayer. But some old men on the Council are too full of themselves, corrupted by the power of the organisation. But so far they haven't been able to do much damage."

I nodded. Remembering from Itachi's life I could guess pretty well how it happened. Still, I was a bit incredulous. " How can anyone be so stupid G-man ? I mean, we miss once, and it's the end of the world. Even the hardest radicals must have some sense of self preservation and see that it would be in their best interest to support Buffy as best as possible."

Giles snorted. " Tell that to the old fools. Most of them never saw a Slayer, or worked in the field. Just books, politics and power grabs. And they like their Slayers obedient and proper, it's already normal to expect one to die after two to three years. Too few have reached the age past eighteen, too few."

My head hurt. I wanted to kill those fools. Maybe later, I decided. " Then we are on our own G-man. I'll keep training my ninja arts, and I'll teach Buffy how to fight better. She won't be able to learn all the things I know, but I can help her a lot."

Giles was pleased. " Very well. I will ensure she takes your instructions seriously. And to the Council I will report only that you kept some knowledge of the Japanese and how to fight. Maybe I will be able to get some token salary for your assistance with Buffy's training. "

" That would be nice. I could use some money. Can you ask for Japanese weapons and stuff like that?"

Giles was quite happy to say he could.

***

I spent the next month working on my ninja skills, especially on my stamina and hand to hand. Buffy was very helpful, and my abilities were forced to grow to keep up with her. I taught her some ANBU techniques for crippling the enemy with single blows. After all even vampires required some time to realign and re-knit their bones, especially the spinal cord. Some training with wakizashi proved beneficial too- it was small enough to carry concealed and useful to cut off limbs or heads. I improved her throwing skills, and Buffy started killing vamps a lot faster.

Everything was going well for us, except the incident with her "friend" Billy Fordham. He was weird from the start. I mean what is the chance of meeting the guy from your old school and he is aware that you are the Slayer ?

In short, none. Itachi's natural suspicion to the purity of the motives of other people made me investigate this Ford guy. So I asked Willow, and lo Angel was there too. It didn't take long to find out he was the part of the stupid vampire worshipping group. Those idiots disgusted me, they believed that vamps were sad, noble creatures. But it was very funny to see one of them dressed just like Angel.

When we left their hangout, I chose to follow Ford around. I would not have if i were my old self, but now...

I found him going towards the place these cultists used as a meeting place, he looked sneaky and suspicious , all the time looking around. He jumped high in the air when I emerged from the shadows. " Going somewhere, Billy boy?" I asked. He sighed in relief when he recognized me. " Oh it's you Xander."

" That' s right Ford. I was checking yout, so I have to ask you – do you really worship vampires like those idiots?"

He gave me an unpleasant smile. " You know about them, huh? No, I don't worship vampires, I want to become one."

" Really? You want to live forever, kill people for fun and for their juicy blood?"

" Don't know about the forever deal Xander, but when you are dying from the brain tumor and are in terrible pain everyday, you take any chance you can."

And it suddenly clicked together, I realized. " You needed to find a vampire to turn you, so you joined the idiots. "

Ford grinned, his eyes hollow. " Bingo. And I did find him, alas he wanted something in turn from me."

It wasn't hard to figure out. " Buffy."

" Right. I don't want her to die but Mr. Spike insisted. I have to call her here, to lure her in the trap. The worshippers are just a bargaining chip for her cooperation."

Crap. Alone, Spike was dangerous. But with his goons and hostages, he was deadly. As I turned to leave and warn Buffy, he cackled. " Xander, did I forget to mention that Spike gave me a minder, someone to make sure I kept my word?"

She emerged from the shadows, just like I did before. Blond, short and with good curves. She eyed me, licking her pale lips hungrily, like a cat observing the trapped mouse. " A friend of the Slayer, mmm. Spike won't mind if I eat you."

Ford stepped away, watching in fascination. She frowned at him. " Don't you have something else to do?"

He shrugged. " I am just curious about what will I be like after being turned. "

She grinned viciously. " I like your style. Maybe I'll let you have fun with me when you rise as a vampire."

Her young face morphed into a demonic visage, her forehead bulged, the eyes became gold red and fangs extended. Her fingernails lenghtened into claws. For some reason, she looked a lot like an enraged Inuzuka clan member. But her ridges were not so pronounced, she was relatively young. By the time she was ready to attack, I was all depended on the first attack. It would be the last. I channelled my chakra, as much as I had. Which wasn't too much at the moment.

She ponced like a cat, her attack seemed almost blurry until I activated my dojutsu. She seemed slower now, and I could see better in the bad light. I saw her demonic chakra flash red and black. I too moved faster than average human now, maybe twice as fast and that was almost not enough.

I crouched down and she missed, landing on the cement pavement instead on my upper body. I rose quickly, yet she was fast still. She grabbed my hands, and went to my jugular. But my red eyes confused her and she hesitated. I used the moment to headbutt her in the face, and I crushed the small bottle of holy water in my left hand. She hissed in pain and released my hand. The water burned her like acid, and I smeared some on her face and eyes. She howled now, and stumbled away, and I drew a stake and finished her off.

I breathed hard. I won. Not because I was stronger, but because I was smarter. Holy water burned her, and she was unable to control her response to pain. Even much older vamps were unable to. Just a second of reprieve, but that's all I needed. My timing was almost perfect.

Ford attempted to run, but I caught him at the mouth of the alley. He went down hard and one judo move immobilised him.

" What are you going to do now Xander? Call the police? Tell Buffy?" He asked , laughing madly.

I tried to change his mind. " You really are stupid Billy. You should know that turning can't save you anyway. The vampire would not be you, but just a demon with your body and memories. But you would be dead. Nothing more."

He growled angrily, trying to free himself. " Fuck you Harris ! You can't be sure, can you? Maybe a part of me would continue to survive. What do you care anyway, I am a dead man either way."

I pause. And realized he was right. Billy Fordham was dead. Either by natural cause or by supernatural. But what about his soul? I made my choice, even though I knew it would haunt my memories until I die.

Hard chakra enhanced punch knocked him out. I pressed a few nerve clusters to prevent him from feeling anything, and used my keys to simulate the vampire bite. I've seen enough of those to copy them. His arterial blood flowed out quickly, and in couple of minutes it made a big pool of red around his body. He was dead.

I drew my wakizashi, crouched next to his body and put some blood in his mouth. Then I cut his head off.

When Buffy arrived, she sobbed at the sight and I told her the story how i found Ford being fed on, and how I killed the vampire, but it was too late for him. So I took his head off to prevent him from rising as a vampire.

Angel was there and he investigated himself and confirmed my story. She allowed him to take her home, barely able to walk alone.

None of us bothered to call the cops. They would find the body by themselves. When I reached my street, Angel was already waiting under the streetlamp.

" Xander, there is something I didn't tell Buffy back there. " He spoke, as I passed him by. He went on. " The ashes were right. But the blood in Ford's mouth was only his own. He wasn't going to become a vampire. Also, I saw the bruises on his head."

" He got them by fighting the vampire, I'm sure. As for the blood, how was I supposed to tell if it was or was not vampiric?"

" Xander, there was too much blood on the pavement, too much for the victim of the vampire attack. And the bite marks were not really like teethmarks, close but not. I can tell the difference. I believe you killed Ford."

Shit. Count on a reformed vampire to tell the truth. Angel was a killer and he knew kills when he saw them. " All right. I killed Ford. Happy now?" I growled.

He shook his head sadly. " Why? "

So I told him. " He was planning to sell Buffy to Spike in exchange for being turned. He was dying from the cancer. So I chose to kill him. Better just die, than be turned. He was dead either way. Personally, I made the choice I would prefer. "

Angel was silent for a while. " I... I think you did the right thing in the end. Buffy would have hated to stake Ford, she really liked him."

" So what now?" I asked.

" I won't tell Buffy, if that is what you are asking about. But I must tell you that you crossed the hard line. You took a life on purpose. It will be hard to deal with, and you better not make a habit out of it."

I nodded, already hating myself for it. " Don't worry, I don't think I am going on some killing spree. In fact, I am going to tell this to Giles. "

" Good. I'll check with him on that. Honestly, I never thought you had it in you."

I smiled weakly. " Blame the Halloween. I have memories of killing so many people, on orders. For money. The guy in my head killed even his own family and clan, all of them. I think I became somewhat desensitized. It's hard to believe that he was human. But he was."

He nodded, clearly aware of my feelings. " Be careful Harris." He said, and blurred away in the shadows. It seems that even vmps ahd their own way of moving fast, like shunshin type of movement. Not as fast, but still...I'll have to remember that.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER TWO**

We were all busy during the period after Ford died. Me especially. My training was intense. I would run in the morning, then go to school and stay afterwards for practice with Buffy and Giles. Nights were reserved for my chakra training and the use of handseals.

My body was getting stronger, including my chakra capacity. Luckily for me, I didn't have to start from the bottom – some of Itachi's innate skill and ability remained. After only few weeks I was at the level of the second or third year ninja student. Which was quite good in my opinion. I could use chakra for short term enhancement, enough to double my speed and strength. Perfect for staking newbie vampires. My Sharingan was still at one comma stage, probably because of my low chakra reserves. But I was progressing nicely. I planned to reach the level of the average genin by the end of this year.

As things stood, I had to be very sneaky when fighting vampires. While Buffy tore them apart with her new skills, and she was still getting better and better, I killed one to two of them from ambush. Her skills progressed rapidly, it was like watching another Uchiha at work. Everything she did, she did almost perfectly. She didn't even need to practice much, just show her how it's supposed to be done couple of times and she would get it. i mean really get it. Same for the tactics, the same tricks never worked on her twice. By the third attempt, she would have a counter move ready. Her greatest asset was her skill at using her environment in combat. She was quite good at using random objects as tools to win the fight.

Me, I was still weaker than her so I had to be more creative. I started to use holy water as a weapon. One plastic water gun became a death tool for me- one burst in the face, and the vamp was dust . I mean, who could think about selfdefense when his face is melting?

If I was still my old clumsy self, it would have been a different story. Probably because I would have been slower, and half of the time the vampire would have dodged my initial attack with holy water. But I was faster now, and they never managed to adjust to my moves on time.

Anyway, this was Buffy the Slayminator show, with Xander as mop up service and I loved it. Buffy stopped worrying so much about me being hurt, and was more focused on her own duty. I felt I was being useful, and treated like a man. I used patrols to sharpen my ever growing skills and to watch Buffy move around killing things. Her tiny shapely body moved with deadly grace, hypnotising me. Down boy, control your urges ....

Another thing. I confessed to G-man about Ford, about killing him. He was staring at me, blank. I think he was too shocked. I got upset and stormed away. I felt really lousy about myself , guilty and dirty.

The next day I came to the library and he gave me several books to look through. Before I left, his words stopped me. " Xander, the next time you think somebody has to be killed, please talk to me. Let me be the judge of that. Agreed ?"

I left him smiling , feeling better. He accepted me still. He was pretty cool guy after all.

That weekend we had remedial class on computer science. I usually detested classes, but this one I didn't want to ditch. I mean, the teacher was hot. Jenny Calendar, mmm. Too bad she was into G-man. Like she would even consider me.

On the other hand Cordy was there too. I swear she was flunking just to spoil my time alone with Ms. Calendar. Well, I was not alone, but Willow didn't count since she assisted her. The other students were unimportant in my little fantasy world.

As I traded acid barbs with Queen C, Buffy came to the rescue. Ms. Calendar asked her what was wrong. Buffy shook her head, worried and anxious. " I don't know. He didn't show last night when he was supposed to. I went to his place, and he was drinking!"

Everyone blinked.

" He was alone and drinking ? " Ms. Calendar asked. Buffy nodded. " Yes, he was acting very un-Gilesy."

Willow seemed hurt. " But...it was tea, right? Mr. Giles drinks only those."

Buffy didn't seem to think so, and I was worried too. " Maybe something happened, maybe he got some bad news , you know." If I were my old self, some funny joke would be inserted at the end. But I didn't think this warranted quippage, of any sort. Cordelia jumped in, sudden and uninvited as usual. " Doofus is right. I saw him talk to the police yesterday."

Ms. Calendar asked her to elaborate on that statement. Cordelia shrugged and strained her cheerleading obsessed brains, remembering something. " Oh, I know ! It was something ...about..yes, a homicide."

Buffy shot her an annoyed glare. " And you didn't tell us this sooner ! "

Cordelia huffed , pretending at being hurt by her supposed overreaction. " I didn't think it was that important."

I laughed suddenly. " I get it. It wasn't about you." Cordelia smiled at Buffy. " See, someone understands."

***

Fifteen minutes later, we were all in the library watching Ethan Rayne squirm in his chair I tied him onto. Before, as I was entering, he was trying to escape from Buffy and I had the distinct pleasure of kicking him in the nuts and watch him meow in pain while lying in heap of bone and muscle on the floor. No man to man compassion for him.

I made knots of the rope extra tight, to increase his discomfort, I mean pain. I noticed the guy in the cage where we keep our equipment. He was dead, totally. " You know guys, that dude is dead." I said.

We all looked towards Ethan who sighed in defeat. " All right, all right, he is dead. I'm sorry Phillip, I really am."

That's when Giles burst in. " Is everyone all right?"

Cordy beamed at him. " Of course ! We kicked ass."

I was tired of the mystery so I demanded some explanations. " So G-man, do you know what's going on? "

Giles ignored me and approached the cage and when he saw the dead guy he moaned. " Oh, Lord it can't be Phillip! "

Ethan chose to speak. " Sorry Ripper , but it's true. "

Cordy leaned towards me, whispering. " Hey , why did he call him Ripper ?" When she saw Giles manhandle Rayne, brutally grabbing his hair and cuffing him with his fist, she understood. It was painful to watch.

" I told you to leave and never return Ethan. " Giles growled. " You put people I care about in danger." Ethan sneered, despite the pain. " Then why did you stay ? You have been having the same dreams, haven't you? You knew, just as I did."

Buffy was bewildered. " What's he talking about ?"

Ethan glared coldly at Giles, his eyes boring into him. " Well, shall I tell her or you will?"

Before anyone could speak up, the dead guy burst from the cage. The door hit Ms. Calendar and she passed out. I pulled Cordelia away, knowing that Buffy would take care of the situation. I was right. She hit him three times and he disintegrated into a puddle of slimy goo.

Cordelia was quite graphic about her feelings. " Eww, I'm going to be in therapy till I'm thirty." Ethan took his chance to escape.

Giles took Ms. Calendar home, she had a headache. Buffy was unhappy with Giles who refused to talk about the Mark of Eyhgon. So we hit the books after he left us alone in the library and I took a chance to peek at his personal files and notes. Breaking and entering, ninja style investigation.

It didn't take a long time to find out what's the what. As Willow summed it up, Eyhgon was a demon once called The Sleepwalker. That was because he could posses only a host who was unconscious. A few guesses later we realized that Ms. Calendar was possessed. She was the only one unconscious when that guy went the way of slime.

Buffy tried to call Giles. " No answer guys. The phone doesn't even ring. I'm going there."

So she left, and we three tried to discover the way to get rid of the demon.

" Cut off his head?" Cordy thought aloud. She was smiling happily. I shook my head. "We can't , that would kill Ms. Calendar too. We have to get the demon out of her, then kill him."

She glared at me. " Ohh, you've become so smart. You figure it out then." I was ready to respond. " I did notice that the thing was in that guy's corpse first. Maybe we could get another dead body for it and then kill it."

Cordelia was unconvinced. " I'm not digging graves mister, forget it."

But Willow smiled. " That's it Xander! I just know where we can find one, and we won't have to dig him up."

***

It was weird to watch Angel's face twist and bulge as his inner demon fought off Eyhgon.

In the end the Sleepwalker went to the dreamland forever. I was eagerly searching for Ethan, thirsting for revenge. I so wanted to show him some of the interrogation techniques I learned that night. Torture, for instance is a good way to get information.

Giles was saved and so was Buffy. Bastard Rayne tried to set her up with his tattoo to direct the demon at her. Didn't work. Ms. Calendar was pissed off and scared I think. Giles was on thin ice with her for now. I think it was unfair, he was young and stupid back then when he summoned demons. Although, I'll never understand what is fun about letting something control you.

A few days later, I was practicing with Buffy. She wore weights on my orders. It was to improve her speed and reflexes, besides she was getting too fast for me. She didn't like it, the bruises on my body proved that.

Giles and Willow were busy with books, working at the table that was pushed aside to make room for me and Buffy. Cordelia was sitting close to them, watching us and as usual, she was also making sure she looked impeccable.

I was sweating and puffing, so Giles had to end the session for which I was grateful. " All right, that's it for today Buffy. Good work with sword." Buffy grinned at the compliment, slightly worked up, but she was nowhere as tired as I was. Still, it was obvious that Ienabled her to work some sweat. She needed that to get better.

" I'm going to hit the shower, wanna join me Buffy? " I asked. She laughed. " Thanks Xander, but I think I'll do it at my house, alone." I shrugged, feigning ignorance. " Well, suit yourself. But you don't know what are you missing."

The halls of the school were empty and thus creepier than usual. It took me twenty minutes to wash up, and by the time I returned only G-man was in the library. " Hey, where is everybody?" Giles was surprised by my appearance. I guess my silent walking training was showing. He took off his glasses and begun cleaning them. " Uhh, I didn't hear you come in Xander. Girls are gone I'm afraid. Willow and Buffy decided to study together, and Ms. Chase is gone...somewhere."

I decided to go too. " Well , see you tommorrow G-man."

" Don't call me that!" He protested, and I had to snicker to myself. What a pleasure is to yank his chain that way.

To my surprise, Cordelia was waiting for me in front of the school in her black BMW.

" Wanna ride with me Harris?" she asked, and I decided to take her unusually civil offer. Still, I checked up on her in the car mirror, to see if she wasn't vamped. Gotta say, she wasn't.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER THREE**

" This is not my house Cordelia." I said, stating the obvious. The scenery was different- we were in the small clearing, high above the city , and the lights of the town were amazing sight in the combination with twinkling stars.

She turned off the engine and secured the car with the handbrake. " No it isn't . Actually, I think it looks way better than your house Xander." I had to agree with her. " So why are we here anyway, instead at our homes?"

She gave me a tight smile, like she was going to say something unpleasant. " I didn't feel like going home yet. I doubt you like being at your home too."

I didn't actually, truth be told. " So, you just wanted some company tonight for a while ?"

She nodded. " Got it on the first try Harris. I think you are getting smarter for real."

She sounded oddly defensive. " Okay. Now, what are we supposed to do since you do not want to go home? "

Cordelia leaned back in her seat, so that I could see her curvy lines better. She was fully aware of the effects her assets had on males. " I don't know Xander, maybe we could play some strip poker? " She fingered the v cut one her blouse, just above her breasts and leaned towards me. Her voice turned husky, deeper. " Or we could have some quality time together, to get to know each other better."

I froze in my seat, rather shocked with her actions. Cordelia never showed any signs of attraction towards me. I know I am not ugly. But I wasn't what you would call cool and sexy either. Until recently, that is. I wondered ....ž

I looked at her , I mean really looked. In her eyes was some kind of urge, a need. But it was something more than lust. I don't know how, but I could recognize the difference. Did Itachi's paranoia become mine too? Probably.

A part of me was angry with Cordelia for trying to manipulate me. Then again, all women do that one way or another. I decided I wanted the truth. I removed her hand from my tigh, however difficult it was.

" Why don't we play another game Cordy? I 'll ask questions, and you will answer truthfully."

She glared, her chest expanded in amgry huff. It was hypnotic to observe her breast expand. " What the hell is wrong with you? When a girl who is not Buffy offers a bit of fun, you get all antsy. Are you really so into her that you can't get it up for any other girl?!"

Ok, she was itching for a fight. And wasn't she too aggressive? " This has nothing to do with Buffy, Cordelia. And I am not into her like before."

Cordy just snorted in disbelief. " Ha, like I'd buy that. I bet if she offered, you would jump her in a second." Okay, she had me on that one. But, who could blame me? Buffy had that intense energy about her, you just wanted to be close to her.

Cordelia took my silence as a yes answer. " See, you are not denying it. Poor Willow, so willing to give herself to you. If you asked , she would have bent over so fast that her spine would have cracked. I swear, some girls really don't have any sense."

She could diss me, but not my Willow! " Don't say that about Willow. And for the record, I would never ask. She is like a sister to me."

Cordy rolled her eyes in annoyance. " Sure, sure. And she likes incest so much. You aren't related moron, and she knows that too well. If she had some fashion sense she would have had boyfriend a long time ago. There is a lot of guys who like that innocent type, you know. But not you. You like them deadly, right? "

I was angry. " You have no idea what are you talking about. After Ampata and Ms. French, I am very suspicious of any woman who shows an interest in me. With Buffy I am pretty sure she won't eat me."

Cordelia looked shocked, her eyes round and big. " Ms. French was a demon?" I nodded. She guffawed, enjoying my embarrassment. I was getting tired of her, so I pressed the actual issue. " Will you explain why did you come onto me ?"

She went quiet. Just when I tried to speak she blurted it out. " I was scared." She saw I didn't understand. " It's all this freaky dangerous stuff going on. Everyday someone seems to be killed, like that Ford guy you knew. And I saw you few nights ago, when you killed that vampire and your eyes were red, just like the eyes of that man who was in your body during the Halloween."

Shit. The secret was out. " Did you tell that to anyone else? "

She shook her head. " Of course not. Nobody would have believed anyway. Are you like him now?"

I looked away from her, uncomfortable. " Kind of. I am just a magicked copy, I will never be as powerful as he was. I think."

" But you could become stronger? " She was sounding hopeful. I nodded. " Is that why you tried to seduce me? So I would teach you?"

She smiled sheepishly. " Nothing so grand actually. I was thinking you could protect me. If I offered something in return, something really good."

I was feeling insulted now. " You know Cordelia, I know that I never left you with the best of impressions of my worth, but I never believed you thought I would let you just die, without even trying to help you."

She must have sensed my anger. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean it quite that way. I believed if I slept with you, you would have been less interested in Buffy and more in me. You would have watched out more for me."

I was kind of getting her. She believed that I valued her life, but not as much as Buffy's or Willow's. Then again, with screwed up family lives like ours...it was plausible. While mine were drunks, and willow's always absent, Cordelia's parents were cold business people who showered her with money and gifts, but with little personal became socialite, open and annoying self centered rich bitch.

I found it strange that Cordelia believed she had to " buy" services from me. I wasn't certain, but it was quite possible she did things like that amongst the rich guys she knew. But everyone knew she wasn't sleeping around like a whore. Nobody ever accused her of being slutty.

" Look Cordelia, " I said angrily, " you don't have to do this. I will protect you anyway. And yes, you are annoying, abrasive and selfish-but you are not stupid or ignorant. And if it is necessary, I'll give up my own life to protect you. Okay?"

The night hid her face, but I think she was shedding tears.

Nah, just a wish on my part.

She jumped on me, hugging me tightly. " Thanks a lot Xander. And for the record, you are even more annoying."

" Yeah, yeah, I just can't believe that you thought I was such a jerk."

She made a cute , impish face at me. " Blame the other guys I dated. They were always after one thing.."

I chuckled. " I'm sure it was more than that. You have more than one thing , you know."

She looked at me, hard. " Wanna play with my things ?"

My disbelieving look annoyed her. " Don't be such an idiot Xander. It's not about that, it's not like that anymore. I'm inclined to trust you, and honestly I am in the mood. And don't even try to pretend you are not interested !"

You know, I will never understand girls. But I went along, after all I was sixteen and horny all the time.

***

Cordy did not waste time on niceties. She hurled herself at me and we begun kissing like we didn't need to 's memories kicked in and I begun using his experience with sex and seduction. Yeah, he knew some good moves.

Cordy was good too. She unzipped my pants with practiced ease, and I loved what she did with my member. Her mouth worked furiously, the tongue of hers was like a tornado. There were colours behind my closed eyelids when I exploded in her mouth.

Cordelia giggled, gripping my still hard organ. " Oh , good you are still hard. Most of the guys I had were limp and had to rest after the blowjob. This is going to be better than I expected."

I growled, unable to restrain myself and threw her under me and begun kissing her, carefully caressing her body. We transferred onto the backseat, and undressed. It was a little tight for space, but good enough.

She cooed and gasped, hissing in pleasure as I worked on her body. I stimulated her sensitive zones, pressing certain points and nerves. It caused her to moan and groan, bringing victorious smile on my face. Itachi really knew this stuff.

When I begun oral stimulations of her vagina, she was half crazy. The smell of her sex was overpowering. I can't exactly put a name to the taste she had-it was not bitter or sweet, a little salty ,yes. But it went straight into my brain. I teased , probed and licked and she buckled in the seat demanding my cock. There was constant drumming in my ears from the powerful heartbeat I had.

Finally, I could not stand it anymore and I plunged myself in her wetness, nearly undone by the sensation. She clamped her legs around me, making sure I don't escape her. There isn't much wisdom in the coupling after that, just a rythm and beat old as the mankind. We kissed, rough and passionate, even biting was present.

I lost myself in the act of penetrating and exiting her vagina, which was wet and tight, her juices freely flowing and sticking ro my gasped at one moment, her legs clenching and she shuddered.

I grinned in darkness, and continude pumping, never letting go. She wanted to stop, but I pressed onto her and kept screwing her. Obviously she was used to one timing bozo's who couldn't keep going for long. I was glad to be sixteen and horny as hell.

She was resistant for a moment, but caught on quickly and let me pound in her with squeal of eagerness. She relaxed, closing her eyes and let me thrust in her with spread her legs instinctively, to allow me easier access.

Our dance lasted a while, and we lost ourselves in each other. Just the soft , yielding flesh and skin, the smell of passion and lust. It was so simple, so comforting.

But my time was nearing, my thrusts became more powerful and eager and Cordelia recognized the signs of impending climax. She begun mixing her hips and I let her lead us to the end. When I exploded in her, she grabbed me tightly, and I kept jerking in and out on reflex bringing her over the edge too.

We remained lying like that for some time, enjoying the afterglow. I felt too lazy to move from her, and sniffed her hair and neck , enjoying the scent of her skin. Sweat smelled fine when you are the reason for it.

She kissed me slowly. " And to think I believed you were a virgin!"

I grinned. " I was."

" What ?" she exclaimed. " How did you know all that stuff?"

I shrugged. " Halloween. I have memories of the dude, you know. He was older, more experienced than me."

She grinned. " Well, something good came out of that in the end. Still, you were pretty good. You have lasted longer than any of my boyfriends. "

Her eyes widened when I pressed into her. " Again?" She asked and I kissed her. Oh, yeah. We had sex again, tring some other positions and tricks, but it was very late now and we had to go home.

That's when I heard a car in the distance. " Cordy , dress up. Someone is coming."

I observed the lights of the approaching car, and activated the Sharingan. The night became a lot clearer, the details sprung to my sight with almost painful clarity. The occupants of the blue Cadillac Eldorado were vampires. Their energy signature betrayed them.

" Cordy, get the car ready to go. We might have to run."

She looked at me. " Why don't we run now? "

I grimaced. " They might decide to chase us and they could run us off the road. Our car can't get to the top speed here. We won't be able to outrun them."

There were two of them, young, barely out of the teen age when they were vamped. They looked like classic California youngsters, lightly dressed in bright clothes. Their get up was something from seventies, still passable.

They probably smelled the lunch. The guy hopped out, laughing at me. I exited the car too.

" What's up man?" he asked, shaking my hand. He looked like a surfer, tall, lean and muscular. He only lacked the tan. Cold blues glinted , amused. He probably likes to play with the food.

I shrugged. " You know, me and my girl just had some quality time. We are about to leave, so you two can have this place to yourselves."

He bent his head to side, as if listening to something. Probably to his vamp girl. I couldn't hear a thing, but then he had much better hearing than grinned again at me. " Hey, I have an idea buddy. Why don't we all have some fun together ?"

" You mean, like group sex?"

" Sure. Rhona and I are always willing to swap partners, so no jealousy involved. She likes variety you know. And she thinks you are cute. And let me tell you, nobody gives a head better than her." He winked at me.

That was their approach I guessed. He pimped his girl , sort of, and it usually worked I was sure.

" Can I meet her ? " I asked.

" Sure, here she comes." He said. " By the way, I'm Jake. You?"

I watched Rhona come. She was gorgeous tall redhead with blue eyes. She wore high heeled shoes, tight cut off jeans that barely hid her front and back, and rolled up shirt, tied high to serve as improvised bra for her big breasts that jingled as she walked. She was knockout and she knew it.

She leaned into her boyfriend and gave me a perfect smile, her teeth gleamed like polished pearls. To me it looked like shark grinned at the dinner." Hi, I'm Rhona .

You are cute, I could just eat you." She giggled seductively, implying one thing most men expected of her, but I knew she meant exactly what she said.

" I'm Alex. I have to say you are one hot babe. I am for it, but let me talk my girl into this first. Okay? "

She shrugged. " Fine by me. Me and my boy are not going anywhere. If she refuses, you can hang with us alone. I don't mind having fun with two guys, not at all."

She was willing to eat only me? And by her words, I knew she had to be the sire of the guy vamp. Even if we both refused, they were going to attack us anyway. To them, the sex was just a game, a bait to lure their victims in. If we declined the offer, they would grab us, rape us and kill too. Maybe even turn us into vampires.

Seeing them stand so close to each other, I had an idea how to get rid of them. As I turned away from them, and started to walk away I focused my chakra and formed handseals. It came easy to do them, I practiced them a lot. The tenth step was the one. I whirled around, and raised my right hand to my lips and blew as if I was trying to whistle. Rhona and Jake were caught totally by surprise, their eyes wide and unbelieving as a huge ball of flame swallowed them, leaving only ashes behind.

The Great Fireball was a basic jutsu of the Uchiha clan. It was used as a right of passage for their children, who were acknowledged as worthy when they became able to do it. I had my Sharingan active, because it helped me to focus my chakra better. I felt tired, and fell on my ass breathing hard.

Cordelia rushed out of the car, and helped me to stand. " Xander? Are you okay?" she asked, obviously worried.

I wobbled slightly, fighting off a bout of vertigo. " Yeah, I'm just very tired after doing this. I spent a lot of energy, fast. I need to eat and rest."

She helped me to get in the car and drove off at high speed. She was glancing at me, worried obviously, so I reassured her I was fine. " Just take us to the food joint, I need to eat , a lot. "

She nodded and led us to the all night food stan where I proceeded to eat for three , and she nibbled on some fries.

" I didn't think you were able to cast spells Xander." She commented curiously when we were eating.

" I didn't know either Cordy, this was my first attempt."

" But you did it perfectly !"

I laughed. " No I did not. I wasted too much energy on it, and it was smaller than it should have been. I was lucky that those two were standing so close together. But at least, I know I can do it."

She shrugged, not really understanding the significance of the matter. " Well, we are safe now. I told you you can protect me better."

I smiled. " Sure, whatever you want Cordy."

She drove me home and we kissed goodbye. I was amazed at the change of our relationship, especially of her desire to be close with me. Maybe it was always there, waiting for the right time? I didn't know, but something touched me deeply. She wanted me, for real.

" See you tomorrow Xander. " She whispered, brushing her lips with mine.

" Yeah, you too. Say, do you want to show our relationship in the public ?"

She grinned. " Whatever you want."

Her answer turned me on. " Let's keep it between us for now." I said. " It will spice up our meetings in the janitor's closet, you know."

She laughed. " When you put it that way, I can't say no."

She was gone and I crawled in my bed, falling asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FOUR**

My training increased and improved after my success with the fireball jutsu. I was pretty sure I had strong affinity for that element, as well as for the lightning. There is a low level jutsu used by junior ninja from the Cloud village, which makes one's fists charged with electrical current strong enough to stun, even knock out the civilians.

I could preform those on the fly, with little effort and quickly. I guess I inherited Itachi's affinity for fire, but lightning was mine.

I also begun to look more muscular, to Cordelia's delight. Yes, our relationship continued in secret, despite my still present belief that it was too good to be real. We often had sessions in the janitor's closet. I think what turned us on was the fact that we could be caught at any time.

I continued to hunt vampires, helping Buffy , but sometimes she would let me handle some. I loved to use my water gun, with my increased speed and skill it was so much harder for them to evade being hit. I begun to employ gasoline and small fireballs combined. Vampires really burned easy.

But trouble is always brewing in Sunnydale. First , Buffy's mom dated Ted. As the things go, this did not end so well. I became suspicious of him when I realised he drugged the cookies we ate. Too bad for him, Itachi had the training and experience on the matter. So I used the Sharingan on him, and whoa ! Ted wasn't even alive. I followed him to his house and snooped around when he left. In the end I called Giles , and boy was he mad when I told him about my discoveries.

We were quite freaked out when we saw corpses of his previous wives. I guess Mrs. S was the fifth to be. Giles decided to deal with the dude immediately. We remained at his house and jumped him when he came back.

While Ted was busy with G-man, using his robot strength, I sneaked behind him, my fists charged with electricity. I smacked him on the back of the head, releasing all the charge into his skull. The second fist followed immediately, leaving Ted sparkling with electrical charges over his body, babbling disjointed sentences like a broken radio. I guess he was just that in the end. Giles finished him with the baseball bat. I think he could have competed in the professional leagues, he was quite good with it.

The last was disposal of the evidence. We cut the gas pipe, set the timer on the microwave to start at certain moment with dangerous stuff for cooking, ensuring the explosion to come. Late news only reported on the accidental explosion.

Buffy was happy that Ted was gone, while Mrs. Summers mourned such a good boyfriend.

The next freaky event was maybe the weirdest. Some prehistoric tentacle monster tried to take over the world from the basement of our school. How cliche was that? Anyway her babies could control people, and only Buff and I remained to save the day. I was Busy knocking possessed people out, and Buffy killed the demon mama.

Yeah, also there were two moronic vampire brothers, Gorch brothers. One was killed by the demon mama, and the other fled. Only to die by my hand. You see, he was on the way out and I was there busy with possessed people. Like any good vamp, he decided to eat me.

I used my shock fist to stun him, applied some holy water to his face and staked him. Good riddance to the idiot.

So things went their usual way. Buffy slayed, dated Angel and I trained and helped Giles translate Japanese demonic lore, which was quite different from what Itachi knew. I decided to ignore his knowledge for the moment.

But the most important discovery was about the sealing. I made some academy level flash tags, and basic storage seals. They worked! With G-man, I tested if magic users could use seals, because like with chakra even magic required the use of spiritual and physical energy, just in a different manner.

Giles pointed one flaw in sealing. " It's use is limited Xander. I could use it, and you and Jenny. But to Buffy it's useless."

" So what ? " I countered, " We can still use it to store our sensitive equipment and weapons. I am sure that you would appreciate the fact that other students and teachers won't be able to stumble upon our stuff. "

Giles was forced to agree with my idea. " You have a point there Xander. I was rather uncomfortable with having to keep the things connected with slaying at school."

" I knew you would see it my way G-man." I said.

He shuddered.

***

Did I ever mention how much I hate that bastard Snyder? Not nearly enough. It was his splendid idea to force the student population to participate in the career choice week. We had to fill out forms with stupid questions, and there were various seminars we had to attend.

I was there with Buffy and Willow, we were writing in our forms. I was feeling disgusted.

" Man, who thought this was a good idea? How can they decide who are we supposed to be based on some stupid questions ? "

Willow smiled, I knew she disagreed with me. " I'm kind of curious about the results Xander," She said.

Buffy was obviously not so happy about it, like me. " What's the point Willow ? I know what's in store for me. I mean, does ' destined to fight the forces of evil ' ring the bell ? "

Willow looked down, feeling sorry for her. Cordelia chose to step by, talking about her question aloud. " Help your fellow man? That's a yes. As long as he is clean, not some poor,smelly schmuck."

I had to laugh at that. " And welcome Queen C, the helper of those rich and deserving."

She glared at me. " And maybe you should go to the janitor's close and inspect your future tools of the trade."

I rose, looking her in the eyes. " You know, I am just going to do that. See you around."

Three minutes later, we were there, kissing and groping like animals. She grinned at me and crouched down. When she unzipped my jeans, I shivered from anticipation. God, she was so good.

" You are evil Cordy. " I told her when she was finished. She even licked me clean and put it back in the pants and zipped my jeans closed. She liked to clean up.

" This will make sure you think about me, only me for the rest of the day." She answered, grinning wickedly. " We could get together tonight, if there is time."

I nodded. " Sure, I'd love to."

I enjoyed our impromptu sessions in the school, being kinky and secretive in the public building. We did not go all the way always, sometimes we just kissed and petted each other. But the best was when we had full blown sex marathon, nothing could compare to that.

The day passed as usual, but unfortunately I wasn't able to meet with Cordy that night. She had to be at the party her parents were invited to.

The next day, we got the results of those tests. Cordelia was happy with hers. " Personal shopper or motivational speaker. Neato! "

Mine was close to hers, and she read it. And laughed at me. I took a look. I was slated to be a prison guard! What kind of crap was that?

Buffy laughed at me too. " At least you will be on the right side of the bars! "

I grinned evilly. " Oh yeah? Missy, you are assigned to a career of professional law enforcement. Hello Police girl! "

" P-police?" she said, stunned by the revelation. I twisted the knife. " As in police brutality, and wearing blue polyester and eating high fat caloric doughnuts. "

Buffy paled, her California bred dietary and clothing high standards screaming in her head.

She managed to compose herself. " Right, I'll think about it later. Now I have to tell Giles about some crypt raiding vamps. Bye."

I watched later as Willow was taken by some big company's recruiters after I verbally spared with Snyder. I really disliked him.

We all got together in the library a few hours later. Giles was explaining about some thing called the Du lac Cross " The item is more than just a holy icon. It was designed to be used to decipher certain mystical texts."

" It's basically something like a decoder ring ? " Buffy asked. Giles nodded, and Willow added her own bit of knowledge. " It is written that he destroyed all of them, except the one buried with him."

" But why destroy them in the first place? " Willow questioned further. We all exchanged glances, because the answer was obvious.

" He was afraid of what would happen if they fell in the wrong hands." Giles stated, looking worried as well.

Buffy came back that evening from her date with Deadboy. She explained she was attacked by some guys who were by Giles's estimation members of the ancient order of assassins. He recognized the ring they habitually wore. " The Order of Teraka dates back to the times of King Solomon. They never give up once they get paid for the kill. You can eliminate as many as you will, but another will come. Some are human, some are not. The Order hires everyone with talent. "

They seemed like those ninjas from movies or books. Or from Itachi's world. Buffy was shaken, we could tell. She ran before anyone could say anything.

So the whole gang remained awake for the entire night trying to find a way to get rid of the assassins. I told him that the usual method was to find out who ordered the hit and force him to rescind the order.

In the end Giles sent me to fetch Cordelia and check on Buffy's home. Cordelia wasn't glad to be dragged out of the bed so early, but she went with me anyway. Buffy's house was empty. Her mom was out of town.

As I was checking the house, Cordelia was being herself and let in the salesman. Of course, he wasn't one at all. When I came downstairs and saw him, my inner alarm went off.

" Cordelia, move away from the weird man please." I ordered, and luckily she listened. The guy was so blank, and obviously a bug man. Because he was covered by bugs.

I remembered the Aburame clan from Itach's world, and knew what to do. Run away. We went to the kitchen, but he was already there. I knew I had no choice, but to use the fire in the house...

I drew my squirt gun filled with gasoline and tried to soak him with it. He jumped aside and gave us the opening.

" Run! " I told Cordelia, and she went as fast as possible. I followed, lighting the gasoline, wincing at the scorch marks in the floor. Buffy 's mom was going to freak out.

Cordy was already in the car, and waiting for me. I was halfway there when the bug man reformed on the lawn. I used the rest of the gasoline to keep him away from me and used chakra to speed up. Two seconds later we were away, leaving tire tracks behind.

" What is wrong with this town Xander ? " Cordelia complained. " That man, he was made of bugs ! Bugs!" She drove very fast, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. By the time we arrived at the library, her hysterical episode ended.

When we returned to our school, there was an ambulance and cops were present. I feared the worst and both of us hurried to the library. Some girl almost jumped us, but Buffy stepped in.

" Down , girl. These are my friends. " She said, and introduced us to her. " This is Xander and Cordela. Be nice." Then she spoke to us. " Guys meet Kendra. She is from Jamaica and also a Slayer like me."

" How is that possible ? " I asked.

Buffy shrugged. " Don't ask me. Giles thinks it has to do with that time I drowned, and you revived me."

" Oh. " What else could I say. Then I asked about the commotion in the school and Giles explained. " We had our first meeting with the Order, one of them masqueraded as a policewoman and attempted to shoot Buffy. She missed, but one young man was wounded."

" Crap, they are really serious. We met on of them too, in Buffy's house. " I said, and Cordelia saw fit to express her feelings. " Disgusting bug man! I hate bugs !"

I focused on the girl, recognizing the similarity between her and Buffy. She had that same energy about her, the same grace and alertness. For some reason she blushed when she saw me look at her, and she looked down at the floor. Weird.

Giles started to explain the situation. " I have discovered what is happening. Spike is the one who ordered attacks. He plans for us to be too busy to save Angel.

He is planning to use him in the ritual to heal Drusilla. He used the Du Lac cross to decipher the instructions. It must happen in the church on the night of the new moon. He needs Angel since he was the sire of Drusilla. Angelus tortured her, killed her family, and also massacred the whole monastery where she was hiding, becoming a nun. "

I grimaced. " Angel sure had some major neck in his old days."

Buffy looked concerned. " Will he die ?"

Giles nodded. Buffy went into panic. " We need to find that place fast!"

" Da new moon is tonight. " Kendra said.

Giles ordered us to find information about the Order members who came, while Buffy and Kendra went to find the church. We hit the books, and lo! I found the bug man , my enemy.

He could be killed only when in bug mode.

We separated. Buffy went to see Willy the Snitch, who was a human sleaze catering to demons, serving them for money. He owned a night bar, where demons went for drink. He did various things for them besides serving drinks.

She convinced him rather easily to show her the church, she could be quite scary at times. So we weren't surprised when it came out he was leading her into ambush. Spike had his goons and Terakans there.

Kendra took on vampires, while Buffy exchanged blows with Spike. Angel was being tied to the chain with Drusilla at his side.

Kendra was dealing now with the policewoman, and I saw the bug man. " Hey, you walking cootie ! Remember me?" I called out, and he went after me, dissolving into the mass of insects.

I run out of the church, and Cordelia shut the door. He predictably went below the door, right into the trap made of liquid glue.

I spilled some gasoline over bugs and lit them up with some fire. Bye bye bug man !

I returned inside, while Cordy went to the car, just in case. I saw Kendra having trouble with the woman, but Giles and Willow were in greater need of my help. They were struggling with one vamp. I rushed in and sprayed him with holy water, which left him open for Giles who staked him.

I turned around just in time to see Kendra being thrown on the floor. The assassin woman was ready to stab her, but I threw the empty bottle at her forcing her to dodge. Kendra used the opportunity to jump her and she trashed her around like a rag doll.

Buffy wasn't doing so well. Spike started the fire to keep her away from the dais and unchained Drusilla. Angel was down, unresponsive. Spike started to run, and I could not help Buffy. But she got up and grabbed the censor from the altar and threw it at Spike's retreating back.

She hit him on the head and he plowed in the church organ with tremendous force. The entire structure collapsed on him and Drusilla, covering them with the ton of wood and metal. Buffy was busy with Angel, who obviously lived. I took my chance when no one looked and threw several exploding tags I made during the week.

The debris covering Spike and Dru blew outwards, shovering us with junk and shards. Then the fire blossomed and we were forced to run away. I frowned on the way out, hoping that the two undead were truly gone. Watching Buffy fuss over Angel made me a little disappointed. Instead of fretting about her boyfriend, she should have been checking that the two dangerous Master vampires were gone. Even others were too distracted. But that's why I was here I guess.

It was a nice big fire from the outside, I powered up those tags to the max. We all rode away in Cordy's car, though it was very cramped. Only Giles had his car, and he drove away with Kendra. I had to suffer Angel's closeness and Buffy's lovesick ministrations of that guy. Ugh.

I felt ill watching her fuss over him.

Cordelia left her near Angel's place, and then she gave me and Willow the ride home. And we saved the day again.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER FIVE**

After we dealt with Spike and Dru things calmed down for the time. Giles thought that vampires were busy with each other, trying to gain the leadership over each other. Still, with two Masters gone, even the other demons decided to lay low.

Buffy took care of the remaining stupid vampires with ease. There was no Big Bad lurking in shadows, trying to end the world. For now. Until Buffy's birthday party came along.

We, meaning Cordelia , Wills and Miss Calendar , arranged for everything. It was supposed to be a surprise, but hey, this is Sunnydale.

It was just us, the Scoobies plus Oz. Oz was the newest addition to the gang. Short, thin dude with hair that changed colors every other week. He was Willow's boyfriend. And she was happy to have him.

Oz was the guy who took the bullet for Willow on the day that fake policewoman tried to kill Buffy. In my eyes , that was the best way to be a man I could trust. He was relatively harmless. He played guitar in the local band called " Dingoes Ate My Baby", and was pretty good. Cordelia dated once their singer Devon.

Where was I ? Oh , yes the party was going on and Buffy was just supposed to enter. Boy, she did enter. But not through the door. She entered through the glass window, by throwing the vampire in before her. He had some kind of box, but not for long –Buffy staked him.

" Surprise ! " Cordelia cheered, and we looked at her. She looked annoyed. " Well, it is !"

Angel and Giles approached Buffy who set the box on the table. I mourned the cake. It looked so yummy. I watched Oz who was pretty calm about it, cool as ice. Jenny and Willow were busy explaining the nightlife to him, so I joined the others around the box.

It looked like a small coffin to me.

Buffy pried it open. There was a blue arm inside, wearing leather armour. Freaky. Angel stepped away, a terror on his face. The arm jumped to life and started to strangle Buffy with tremendous strength. We all jumped to help and the arm went in the box again, which was nailed shut again.

Buffy massaged her tender throat. " What is that thing Angel? You recognized it. "

He looked still stricken. " If I am not wrong, it's the arm of The Judge."

Giles looked ready to pee himself. " No ! " He protested. " It can not be !"

I was confused. " How can one arm be so bad guys ? "

Angel grimaced. " When I was younger, I heard legends about the demon lord called The Judge. He was sent forth to divide the just from the wicked and burn the just. He was said to be indestructible. He was impervious to all attacks. "

Giles took over. " It took an army to stop him, the stories spoke that even some demons helped. He was unable to die, so he was taken apart and his limbs sent into the world, never to be assembled again. He could end the human race."

Oz just spoke one word. " Intense." I later learned it was his usual answer.

Giles grabbed the box giving me a look that said to do as he told. " I'll take care of it. Xander, you will drive. "

Buffy was protesting. " But Giles, it's dangerous ! I should be the one to guard it, or Angel."

Giles shook his head. " That's exactly what I am counting on for our enemy to think. Whoever wants the arm will look at you or him first. I will use my Watcher contacts to hide the thing. It is safer that way. Let's go Xander."

Angel was moving out too. " I'll try to see if there is a new player in town. Someone is trying to gather the Judge parts , it can't be missed by other demons."

Giles and I drove to his apartment and I begun to draw the storage seal for the box. I had Giles do the sealing, to ensure it's success. He used magic to seal the magic item, and it worked. We remained on guard for the whole night, and in the morning we went in the post office disguised by illusion made by Giles. I could use the Henge no jutsu, but only on myself. So this was the better way.

We mailed the stored box as a big paper letter, which was the perfect disguise. The gang was together that evening listening to Angel.

" There is a new master vampire in Sunnydale, " he begun. " He took over for Spike. It seems that Spike was looking for the parts first and this guy did the search for him. Hen he heard of Spike's death, he decided to continue the search. "

" Who is he ? " Buffy asked with worried tone.

Angel looked worried too. " He is known as The Musketeer, and is almost a century older than me. He used to be a musketeer for the king of France, and is really good with sword."

Cordelia did not seem worried. " So what ? He can't assemble The Judge anymore. "

Giles disagreed. " Not at the moment Cordelia. But he is immortal and has all the time in the world. If he runs away, we will never know when he will make his move again. We must deal with him now."

Another book night was in front of us. Angel left to gather more info.

Books said the same all over, he could not be harmed by any weapon forged and so on. It was rather demoralizing.

But Buffy had an idea. " I think I know were they are ! In the factory used by Spike, The Musketeer must have moved in."

" Are you certain ? " Giles asked. She was. " I'll go get Angel. We will see for ourselves."

She left. I had to admit that the two of them were a good team. A few hours later Giles had to answer the phone. When he put it down, he was pale.

" What's the matter G-man ?" I asked.

" Someone just robbed the delivery truck from the postal office. The driver was killed and the truck is gone. I must presume our item is stolen."

" The Musketeer ? " Willow asked fearfully. Giles nodded.

" That's too coincidental, " I said. " That means he was watching us all. It also may mean that the factory is a trap."

Giles gave me the keys to his car. " Go, there might be enough time to warn Buffy and Angel. Be careful."

It took me twenty minutes to find the place. It was too late. They were already inside. The building was surely guarded on the inside. So i went up on the roof of the neighboring building.

I gathered some chakra and sent it to my legs. I vaulted over the seven meters of distance. I almost did not make it.

There was a vampire on guard. He heard the thump of my landing and he had me in his hands very quickly. That is, he raised me with one hand on my throat and enjoyed my struggle.

Some how I formed the seals and fried him with my electrically charged hands. Thousands of volts coursed through him and he let me go. I splashed him with holy water and staked his sadistic ass. My throat hurt.

I crawled through the roof entrance and moved in shadows.

When I saw them, I almost cursed loudly. They were caught, and The Judge was whole. Tall, blue skinned and horned dude. And he just fried the vamp with glasses to the ash claiming he had humanity left over in him. That was interesting to hear, that some vamps could retain some of human habits, echoes. They could be nothing else, because every vampire considered people as food.

The Musketeer was there too, gloating in front of Angel. He had a long coat, boots and wide old style hat with feathers in it. He could actually pass for a slightly eccentric dude if he ever walked in the public.

I turned on my Sharingan to see better. I read the lips of The Musketeer as he gloated to Angel. " Angelus, Angelus... what a shame to meet like this. A Slayer's pet you are, disgraceful. Do you have any idea how shamed your grandchilde was. Ah, Spike was truly vicious. He started this, and I will finish it."

I had to give him that. He was careful not to reveal too much, not even now. At his gestures, his goons brought Buffy and Angel closer to The Judge. I tensed, ready to interfere.

Luckily I did not need to. They managed to free themselves and cause the heavy load of metal to fall down,opening a hole in the ground. They got away. I was already on the move.

Four throwing knives with exploding tags flew unerringly at The Judge. He dismissed them, since forged weapons were harmless. But what about the ones I drew and charged with chakra. Both, the paper and the knives were not made by man, but by machinery.

" Fool, I cannot be harmed by any weapon forged ! " He roared, and I grinned.

" Hey, who said that they were ? "

He had the time to look surprised before the four simultaneous blasts of energy tore him to shreds, along with vampires around. The fire started, engulfing the ground in yellow inferno of heat.

I turned around to leave. I froze. He was standing on the walkway with me, looking pissed off.

" I bet you are proud of yourself human ! " The Musketeer hissed, his face still in human guise. " I had such a nice plan, and you ruined it. "

He moved towards me, fast.

I jumped over the railing. I saw him look surprised. Of course, no human could make the jump and stay whole. I channeled my chakra, as much as I could to reinforce my legs. It still hurt when I landed, my legs felt like they were broken.

There was no time to waste, since the vampire leaped at me. I jumped through the flames right in the hole made by Angel and Buffy.

I knew he would follow, so I started to make hand signs before even landing again. My eyes lit red again, and I could see him jump in. Right into my Great Fireball. I guess he was too angry to be careful.

It was understandable though. I mean, how many people can make fires out of their mouth ? Some powerful witches or wizards , sure. Not that too many of these walked around. I definitely did not look like I could. That was my advantage, my ninja power. I looked ordinary.

The Musketeer was dust, only his saber survived, half melted. I felt satisfied and started to run after Buffy and Angel. Angel caught me several minutes later, and almost broke my neck.

" Xander ?! " He was very surprised. Buffy was angry. " What are you doing here ? " She asked.

I chuckled. " G-man sent me to warn you of the trap. But it was too late so I sneaked in. "

Angel was confused. " How did you get past them ? And what was that explosion ? "

" Oh, that . " I said. " Just some explosives I threw at The Judge. He is history, as is The Musketeer."

Angel was shocked. " But the legends..."

I laughed. " Yeah, but this is the modern age. Weapons are not forged anymore, well not all of them. Chemically based explosives, very tricky."

Buffy got it. " Oh, my god! You took him down with weapons that were like, cooked ? "

I laughed even harder. " Sure. The Musketeer also got blasted in the fire , so no worry."

Angel just started to walk, shaking his head. We followed him to his place. It rained badly so we stayed at his apartment, drying ourselves. I was glad they believed my story, I just did not want them to know everything I could do. I just wasn't ready to tell.

Cordelia arrived later to pick Buffy and me. We did not wish Buffy's mom to worry. Cordelia had to go home, so she left me at Giles's doorstep.

He listened to my tale, as I ate the dinner. I was pretty hungry.

" Amazing ! Your tags are truly effective. Anyway, i still must say that you were extremely lucky. " He said.

I nodded, massaging my legs. " I know. My legs hurt. And I never sensed him come up behind me. He was really fast."

Giles nodded. " He must have jumped the distance in the single leap. Vampires are better than Slayers in that regard. "

" I'll remember that. Still, he underestimated me-he wanted to kill me slowly. That's why I was able to jump down. He let me, thinking I would break my legs."

Giles seemed satisfied. " Good, I am glad you are aware of your limitations. "

I sighed. " Well, I best go home. I'm sure you and Miss Calendar have some things to do."

He gave me an irritated glare, and i snickered. " See you G-man."


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SIX**

Our lives went on after the death of The Judge and The Musketeer. I still reeled from the realization that I killed a high level demon and one Master vampire. So much, and with only a bit of power and luck.

Willow continued to date Oz, who proved to be a good addition to our team. He was cool, smart and a man of few words. But he loved Willow, and that endeared him to us the most.

He also drove a van, which was useful to transport us en masse or to move stuff we didn't want to be seen.

Giles went to date Miss Calendar again, and Buffy was happy with Angel. I was still with Cordelia, enjoying our secret affair. On the other hand, Cordelia also begun training for self defense. In that part G-man was the most useful, since he was extensively trained by his own organization-that meant techniques developed for men and women without powers, which was the best for Cordelia. I worked with her on her stamina, in more than one way, heh...

But it was made clear to her that those techniques were only for the situation when she could not escape or call for help.

I intensified my training, working on my chakra channeling and stamina. Jutsus were still limited for me. Yeah, I knew a lot , but most of those were too hard for me to use. Shock Hands (electrical hands) and my Fire jutsus were okay for now. I managed to work out a variation of the fireball tech. Basically I made it smaller, but deadly to vampires. It was a stream of fire, I called it the Firebreath technique. I could hit the vampire in the face, close up and he would be burned to ashes. Similar to the Phoenix flower tech, but instead of spitting small balls of fire, I would eject a stream of fire, even one meter long at the max. It wasted a little chakra, yet it was deadly. I liked it a lot. Besides, to use it I had to use only one hand sign, the tiger seal.

We were all enjoying the relative calm , when the new nasty hit the town. Cordy and I were on a date, making out in the car, when one clawed hairy hand burst through the roof . She screamed, and started the engine while i was using a knife to make the appendage go away.

We were away and free soon.

"That's it Xander !" Cordelia said venomously. "We are not coming back to that spot, ever. First, there wer those vampires, now this rabid fido who ruined my roof."

I had to agree with her, that spot was really unlucky for us.

Giles wasn't surprised about it the next day. But Willow was very unhappy when she discovered I was with Queen C. After all, we founded the "We Hate Cordelia" club. I was the president and she was in the charge of money.

Buffy was not so surprised. "I knew something was going on with you two, you didn't fight as much as before."

Cordelia made a face at her. Oz merely hugged Willow, calming her down.

When Giles was finished with books, he talked to us. "It was a werewolf clearly. They are normal for the whole time, except on the days before and after the full moon, and on the day of the full moon. During those three days they transform, becoming mindless animals. They cannot stop the change, and the animal mind becomes dominant.

They are led by instincts to feed, to hunt and to mate. But they do not remember anything from those nights. That could be anyone in the town, or maybe just a passing traveler who stayed the night. "

Now that was a problem? How do you discover the wolf in the sheep's skin if he doesn't know himself?

That evening we were searching for the wolf, and Cordelia got caught in the trap set by werewolf hunter, Cain. Remorseless dude really. He knew about them, that they were people too most of the time, but he killed them anyway!

Buffy almost got the wolfman at the Bronze, she tried to use chains to stop him, but he was too strong and so he fled free.

Back to basics-find the suspicious individual. I remembered Larry, our resident jock and bastard of high caliber. He always harassed girls, and tormented nerds. Including myself sometimes. He had a large bandage on his arm, supposedly he was bitten by a dog. Well, I suspected it was maybe a werewolf who infected Larry.

I was so wrong. I wanted to forget our encounter in the boy's locker room. He saw me there and greeted me. "What's up Harris ?"

I shrugged. "Not much Larry. Say, how did you get injured? It must hurt a lot."

He grinned. " What, this? Some flea bitten dog bit me and I had to get stitches. And that was what hurt."

I nodded, being friendly. "You know, I've been watching you lately. I know about your burden. I know about your burden. You should talk about it, before it ends badly."

He looked at me defensively. "I have no idea what are you talking about."

" C'mon Larry. I'm not here to judge you. Just say it, admit who are you. Really, you'll feel better. I won't think you are a freak or something. I know you feel isolated, afraid. We all do sometimes, when we have a secret to hide."

Larry sighed, looked me in the eyes. " Maybe you have a point Harris." Then he said it, but not what I wanted to hear, no way in hell. "I'm homosexual !"

I froze, literally. Total brain freeze. Larry was gay ? Larry the stud ? The guy who dated numerous girls ? Wait a minute, he always bragged about having sex-did that mean he had sex for real, but with....no ! Don't go there Xander. No way !

Larry laughed in relief. "Man I feel so much better ! You were right Harris. Tell me, did you feel like this too?"

I sputtered in confusion. Larry believed I was gay too ? He patted me on the back. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. I'm totally behind you."

He walked away, a new man. Or was he a woman ?

Anyway, I reported my failure to extract the admission from Larry. Back to the beginning.

Only to discover it was Oz. Willow went that evening to visit his house, and he was already changing. Somehow, Oz managed to hold back and let her escape. But Cain was onto him as well, and almost shot him when Willow used the tranq gun to put him to sleep.

Buffy convinced him to go and never return. She turned his rifle in a pretzel with her bare hands. He got the message very clear.

Of all things, Willow loved Oz even more. I was against that at first, but she made me accept it, just like she had to accept the fact I was with Cordy. I don't think Cordelia would have liked to be considered equal to furry Oz.

***

Some time later there was a flu bug going around, even Buffy got it. She had to go to the hospital and we visited her. She complained about food at first, but on the other day she told us about some invisible monster killing kids.

We chalked it up to the fever she had and the medication. For some reason, I trusted her and decided to see if she was right. It was very easy to sneak up in her room and wait in the corner. I made sure to stay in shadows. In cases like these I wished I could use genjutsu like Itachi.

That was the major drawback in my arsenal, the genjutsu. It didn't work on vampires, because they were dead. On the other hand, most demons and all of the human population were alive. Yet I couldn't use it on them too. Giles theorized that people here lacked the chakra coils, which were the way to influence senses of others. I had chakra coils and so I was able to generate more energy than ordinary people. Like when you let the electrical current through the copper wire coiled to produce the strong electromagnetic field. So much for that in the end.

Buffy was asleep, just like other children in the room. Then one of them jerked, whimpering in fear. He was looking at something above him, then he stopped breathing. I activated the Sharingan and saw it, him. He looked like a weird version of Freddy Kruegger.

I reacted immediately with a flying kick to the head. It flew in the hallway and glared angrily at me. I followed it out of the room, and evaded it's claws. It was strong, fast-but clearly unused to fighting bigger opponents than little children that could see it. My red eyes must have frightened the thing, because it run.

It tried to hide in shadows, but I saw it clearly, it's sickly yellow chakra was like a neon sign to me. We ended in the basement, where it ambushed me. It tackled me on the floor and begun choking me.

I managed to keep some of my breath and slugged it hard on the ribcage with chakra enhanced fist. It's grip slackened and I exhaled sharply, my left hand in tora sign. The fire burst out in a wide spray, burning the thing's face.

It rolled on the floor wailing soundlessly. I jumped on it, and cut it's head of with my wakizashi. Very little blood was spilt.

Giles found the thing in his books. It was a demon called Der Kinderstod, Children's Death. I was happy to have killed the thing. It only attacked little sick kids, draining them of the life force. Only those who were sick and young could see it. Well, me too.

I felt invigorated by my success, so I used chakra to run fast, straight to Cordelia's. Just my luck, she was alone in her room so I climbed up to her window. She was in her white cotton panties and bra. Mmm, sexy.

"You know, I think you are over dressed." I said, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Idiot, I almost had a heart attack ! What are you doing here so late ?" She said, smiling anyway. I entered and kissed her. "Just wanted to see you."

She stepped away from me, frowning." You smell , bad. What were you doing ?"

"Well, I killed a demon in the hospital, told Giles about it and then I run to here."

When I went to kiss her again, she stopped me. "Go in the bathroom and wash yourself. I will not touch you when you are so stinky."

You have to love her to stand her attitude. I sighed theatrically and obeyed. I was in the shower for some time, when the glass panel was pushed aside.

"Would you mind if I joined you ?" Cordelia asked. I grinned.

We made love right there under the shower, our wet skin rubbing together. She was in my arms, her legs around my waist. Her head swayed back and she moaned in pleasure as I entered her repeatedly.

I enjoyed myself as well, it was thrilling to have her in her own bathroom with her parents downstairs, unknowing of their daughter's naughty activity. Our relationship became much deeper ever since the Valentine's day.

We snuck out to the cottage her family owned, to make that day our own. The night was filled with our lust, and in the end I slipped up. I swore not to ever say that to her, yet I blurted it out after we had our fill of passion. "I love you."

The sentence flowed from my lips so naturally, I wasn't even aware what I said at first.

I knew it was the wrong thing to say, because Cordelia went still and silent. We were not in love, the silence said, just friends with benefits. Really good benefits , in my opinion.

Thus I remained awake for the whole night cursing my big stupid mouth. But I watched her sleep, her body so perfect and radiant in the moonlight. It felt strange, but I knew it was right to be in the same bed with her.

I used to dislike her so much, before the Halloween. But that night changed my perspective. Itachi was right about one thing if not anything else-the truth of our existence, our reality, is dependant on what we see, on what we choose to see and accept as real.

For a long time, I didn't even try to see Cordelia as anything but daddy's rich and snobbish girl. She was that, but also much more. What most of people saw as shallowness, I saw she was rather self centered. But she never shied away from reality, she fought it with her razor sharp wit and occasional deep understanding.

Cordelia was not stupid, her grades were good. And she definitively was not weak willed. She had fire in her, she shared it with me with every act of passion, with every insult and comment. I didn't want her gone, I realized after awhile.

The dawn came, and i went to make some breakfast. Coffee, juice, toast and some jam. We ate and tidied up behind. We showered, and then it was time to leave.

She was about to start the car, but then looked at me. Her eyes were clear blue, ready to cry. She fought it off, but her voice trembled a little. "I expect a nice shiny gift from you dork, since you have forgotten to give me anything for the Valentine's. And dress nice tonight, we re going out together. No wait, I'll chose your clothes, we must look good together."

As she rambled on, I laughed. Yeah, I love you too Cordy.

We had a blast that evening at the Bronze. We danced and drank, enjoying each other's company. Oz, Buffy and Willow were there too. At the end, Cordelia whispered to me so that only I would hear. "C'mon Xander. Let's go, I can't stand it anymore. I want to fuck."

She forgot about Buffy's hearingobviously, causing her to spray her juice right at someone passing us by, making him look like he peed on himself.

***

After that, our life went on. We went to school, we trained and we slayed.. But the training was the most important thing and G-man came through for us.

He found this nifty spell in one of the old dusty tomes. It was perfect. One cranky old wizard invented it as a prank. He loved to use on the knights who were too arrogant. All that armor on them, and he made it heavier making the knights barely able to walk It must have been a riot to watch poor guys crawl around.

For me, it was godsend. Closest thing to the gravity spell. Giles modified it with the help from Miss Calendar. He made a medallion as the focus of the spell, one for Buffy and one for me.

In Itachi's world, ninjas used weights to improve, usually enhanced by seals to be heavier. But it needed a constant chakra supply to be activated. So only high level chunins or jounins were able to use them.

But this spell removed that chakra demand for me, since the spell fed on magic ambient of the environment. My whole body would have to endure increased g levels, forcing me to train with my whole body equally. I would get stronger, not just by making my muscles bigger. All of my body would improve, every organ, every fiber and bone and nerve.

My usual set of increased gravity was plus ten to fifteen percent , while Buffy started with fifty. Of course, we could not keep it on all the time, human anatomy wasn't designed for such stress on continuous basis. We had to rest to improve too.

But the progress was visible, in small increments. I believe that this world is different from Itachi's somehow. I had bigger body and stamina than some genin, yet I was barely able to match their ability overall. I could do same things, but not as long or as much as they did.

I could shoot Great Fireballs, or use the Shock Hand or my Firebreath. But it was to tiring to produce jutsus, so I kept them only for emergencies.

Giles listened to my complaints and had some theories. Either I was just a copy, thus imperfect so my powers would always be much weaker, or that the powers of ninja weren't so strong here. He talked about conversion ratios for chakra into different forms of energy, like it was much bigger here.

So a jounin ninja would be much weaker here, well in part. He could probably perform all the jutsus, but only for a short time, or only once. The energy price would be too high for longer performance.

That meant that I could some day be able to perform powerful jutsus, but at much greater cost of chakra. Giles was secretly glad for that I think, no man should be so powerful.

Still, I might become strong as chunin at one day, which would be great. And Buffy, well I don't think she had the same limits as I did.

Being only a human sucked sometimes. I decided to work harder. I had so many jutsus branded in my memory, some very useful. I couldn't wait to try them.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The spring arrived bringing longer and sunnier days and so on. It meant less vampire activity, despite the sewer system they often used to move around unseen and untanned.

Classes were boring, and I would often start to get sleepy, but Cordelia would hit me with rubber end of the pencil. If she had to suffer, then I had to suffer too. She claimed it was the rule when someone dated someone else, and I didn't believe her at all. She didn't allow that to stop her from hitting me anyway. Women can be very violent creatures when provoked.

I noticed something about Buffy one morning. She was unusually chipper when she talked with Cordy and Willow. I was kind of wigged when I saw Cordelia hang out with them, but it was understandable. Her posse left her alone when she started to date me openly. But the insult was that they started to follow Harmony Kendall.

That was the sad part actually. Harmony was your stereotypical brainless blond. She slept around to be popular with guys; she was stupid and not really that pretty. Personally, I considered her a victim of the badly done cosmetic surgery. Someone opened her head and forgot to install the working brain.

Cordelia was disappointed, although she was glad to be rid of Harmony. What really hurt was that some of her closer friends were not talking to her anymore-like Aphrodesia, Aura and some others.

But that was the life in the high school. It would pass. In some cases, literally.

We remained that day to help Giles with books, archiving and referencing the demony stuff. Buffy was really lucky to have patrols sometimes.

"Hey G-man, look! It says here that you need copper based weapons to kill a Zavvras demon. It seems they are allergic to the stuff." I said and he started to check other tomes to confirm. I used the Sharingan to memorize such info, it could come handy someday. Unfortunately, men were never consistent through the ages, so we had to double check info we came across. It was tedious, mind numbing work. I really envied Buffy.

I got hungry so I decided to grab a snack. "I'm going to get something to eat. Anyone wants anything?" I offered, but none accepted. I navigated the halls and reached the snack machine. It was a piece of cake to hit it in the right way to get some candy. If there were Twinkies, I would have paid.

Yummy chocolaty sweetness invaded my mouth. Then the lights went out. I was on alert immediately. It was not unusual for that to happen, but only if there was the bad weather. I checked and it was just fine outside. Ominous feeling gripped me and I trotted silently towards the library.

Near the library I pressed my back to the wall and sneaked sideways, just like ninjas are trained to. Chakra in my feet made the walk soundless. A basic stuff really.

When I looked around the corner I was very surprised. Giles and Oz were facing a tall figure holding Willow by the neck. I activated the Sharingan. My vision cleared and I saw it was Angel-but something was wrong. His chakra was the usual vampire yellow, red and black. Hey, he lacked that blue tint near the surface of his body. Since it was the only thing separating him from the regular soulless vampires it was clear he had no soul.

Angelus was back in the saddle. Shit. Crap. What the hell is happening?!

I had to do something, but without risking Willow's life. I drew my water gun and aimed at Angelus, his neck to be exact. Holy water spurted out, soaking his neckline and the top of Willow's head.

He roared in pain and looked at me with his hateful red yellow eyes, his face ridged and fanged. He knew I would press the attack and sought to prevent me from doing that by throwing Willow hard at me. If I tried to dodge, she would probably be hurt-and he knew it. Her flying form struck me hard, but I had her and we rolled on the floor. As soon as we stopped rolling, I was spraying holy water across the hallway, but Angelus was already gone. Giles and Oz were picking themselves of the floor; obviously he barreled straight through them to avoid Buffy who was at the other end of the hallway.

The meeting afterwards was very enlightening.

"Angelus is back." I stated. "We are so dead."

My words were a bit melodramatic, but I think everyone agreed with me. Giles was making the hole in the floor with his circular walking, he was muttering to himself. There was a lot of his usual "Good Lord" talk.

I watched Buffy closely, and she was twitching and refused to look any of us in the face. She knew something.

"Buffy, you know something, don't you?" I asked, masking my anger. Yes, I was angry. She was hiding something, and Willow almost died. Giles stopped his pacing and stared at Buffy as well.

"What is it Buffy? What do you know?"

Buffy looked lost then, broken somehow. I can't describe it exactly. It was such an alien expression on her. "I'm not sure. Last night we were together and it was so perfect. He met me on the patrol and decided to give me a gift for my birthday. With all the mess with the Judge, he missed his chance. I loved the present, it was so romantic, and then we...you know, we were together."

To my horror, she was blushing. I knew then what she meant, but Giles failed to see.

"Together?" he asked for clarification. Buffy nodded and looked away, embarrassed.

He got it then, and shock came upon him. Several emotions twisted his visage, fury, fear and amazement-not of the good kind I presumed.

"You were with....a vampire?" He asked, his voice hollow. Buffy nodded again, too ashamed to speak. Giles jumped to his feet. "Of all the foolish things I expected you to do in your life, this is the one I never saw coming. You should have known better Buffy. For Lord's sake, he is a vampire. Even as human, he is older than all of us combined."

He stopped his rant before he said something he would regret.

"Talking about robbing the cradle, humph." I spoke, not bothering to be nice. I steered the conversation on the more important topic. "Whatever, but how did this remove Angel's soul?"

Buffy looked pitiful. "I don't know! It was not supposed to be possible."

I was incredulous. "Wasn't possible? Buffy, I remember that there were at least two legends where a kiss could remove the curse."

She glared at me." We've kissed before and he kept his soul."

I snorted." Well, you kissed only on the mouth. There are other ways of kissing, and I presume you two tried them out."

She reddened and was to jump across the table to strangle me, but willow had enough. "Stop it you idiots! We should be concentrating on our safety, not on your bickering. No one could have foreseen this, so nobody should accuse Buffy as being guilty. Maybe the curse would have broken anyway."

Well, she was right. I shut my mouth and Buffy sat down.

"Thank you Willow." Buffy said.

"Don't thank me Buffy. I'm still too terrified to appreciate it." Willow answered, hugging Oz.

Giles sat down again, and looked at Buffy. "It is clear what must happen. Are you prepared to do your duty Buffy?"

"I love him. I ...I don't know."

Her answer made me furious, but Willow's stare kept me in check. I had to push Buffy's buttons now, not alienate her from us. "Buffy, I'm sorry for attacking you. I was worried about Willow. And you. You know that Angel is gone. Angelus is back, and he will come for you-but not before he kills everyone you care about. Your mom, Giles, me, Willow, Oz and Cordelia. Miss Calendar too, or that old lady living across your house. You know he won't stop until you are broken. God knows how many he already killed. "

Buffy could not deny my words as her tears slid down her cheeks.

***

She lurched backwards, rocking herself hard on my hips. "Aah! Ahhh!" She moaned. I grunted, and rolled her over and begun thrusting in her with all of my strength and she was being pushed into the mattress with every hit. I kept on, going faster and harder until I could not hold it in, the last thrust of my hips was met with hers and my seed spilled in her in one violent burst that made me almost lose my consciousness.

Cordelia went limp beneath me, and I had to roll aside so we lay next to each other. It took some time for us to regain our breath, and we enjoyed the afterglow.

"I'm scared Xander." Cordelia whispered. The fear was present in her words, and it almost made me growl. Hyena boy wasn't totally gone it seemed.

"I know me too." I told her, hating myself for it. I was scared of Angelus. The guy was real nightmare, so much that Freddy Krueger would have called him a friend for life.

"That stupid bitch." Cordelia hissed, meaning she was talking about Buffy." What the hell was she thinking, banging that vampire? I mean, eww-he was a corpse! I always thought he was hot, but ever since I knew what he was, the hot factor went real cold, fast. Isn't she supposed to kill vampires? Hello, Vampire Layer!"

I laughed, that was a good one. "I'm with you on the subject of Buffy buffing Deadboy. But this is too serious to fight among ourselves. We got to stick together and watch our backs. "

Cordy sniffed, still ranting." I know that. I think she was actually jealous of us, of our physical bliss. I know she was a virgin until this happened."

I sighed." You bragged, didn't you?"

"What was I supposed to say? They were curious and I took pity on them. You can't keep secrets like that from fellow girls-it's, like, a code of conduct."

Figures. They swap stories, and when guys do it, it's wrong. See the difference? I don't.

I snorted at her. "Well, you gave her the courage to make it to the last base. Hooray for adult Buffy and cured Angelus."

"Shut up! How was I supposed to know that she actually liked dead meat?" Cordy snapped at me.

"Relax, I wasn't accusing you. It was her choice alone." I tried to calm her, and it worked.

It took her some time, but she finally fell asleep in my bed. Yeah, sometimes she slept at my place. It was fine with her folks, as long as they believed I was a girl named Alex.

The next day at the school was interesting. Cordelia went to talk with some of the ex Cordettes, who became also ex too discovered that Harmony wasn't so great. Cordelia managed to win them back by the sheer force of her personality. It wasn't so difficult-Harmony had none.

Me, I went to the library since I had the first period free. Oz was there and we exchanged curt nods of greeting. Oz was calm, serene. Nothing fazed the guy. I bet if someone dropped the nuke on his lap, he'd just say one thing. "Cool."

Giles wasn't there.

"Where is G-man?" I asked Oz.

"He has the faculty meeting." Oz answered.

"Hey, how is Wills? I know she was very upset last night."

Oz gave me a look, it spoke volumes. I grimaced and he took pity on me." She cried a lot when we were at her house."

That's when Miss Calendar entered. "Is Rupert here boys?" She asked, looking very worried.

"Nope Miss Calendar. He is at the teacher's meeting." I said, and she looked very frustrated.

"All right. Please tell everyone to gather here later, I may have some information on the current situation." She said and I nodded. She left, fast.

Classes were boring that day, well they were boring all the time. But I was concerned about what Miss Calendar spoke. I was curious what she might have on Angelus.

Well, it seemed a lot more than we guessed. We were all at the library after classes when she came in that short black skirt, high heels and white blouse that left no doubt about her sexy body. Long legs, slim figure and decent boobs. Black hair and dark eyes, creamy white skin. She was the dream of every hormonal teen with the fetish of scoring with the teacher.

Her voice trembled at the beginning, but she held on. "I must first apologize to you all. I was deceiving you about some things concerning myself."

Giles stiffened. Cordy grabbed my leg below the table. Buffy was eyeing her warily, and Willow shuddered. And yes, Oz was calm. I was beginning to think he was on some kind of dope.

Miss Calendar continued. "I was sent here to watch Angel, to make sure his curse stayed. I failed."

"Who sent you to watch him?" Buffy asked. There was an edge in her voice conveying her hostility.

Miss Calendar looked at Giles." My name is Janna Kalderash; I am one of the gypsies whose ancestors cursed Angelus for his evil."

One question plagued me. "Did you know that the curse could be broken? And how?"

She still looked at Giles only, but she answered. "I was told that the curse could be removed, such is the way with almost all of them. But no, not the way it could be done. It was meant to last forever, to torment the demon for his evil and the soul of the man who let himself become a vampire. As long as he suffered, the curse would remain. But if he was to experience the moment, one moment of pure happiness-the curse would be broken and the demon set fee."

I had to laugh at that. "Oh, boy-it seems he really got happy a few nights ago.I guess Buffy was better than anyone could believe."

Buffy shrank in the chair, but Giles was pissed off. "Shut up Xander. Jenny, you lied to us. You could have warned us!"

She looked at him, pleading for understanding. "Please, I was under orders from my elders. They do not take disobedience lightly. And I was not supposed to get close to you, yet it happened. And I never lied about us."

We were all uncomfortable watching the exchange between the adults, it reminded me of the fights my folks had. "Chill G-man. Who could have known that Buffy would actually like Angel enough to sleep with him? And who can say what can make one person truly happy? I never pegged Deadboy as a shallow guy."

But Buffy had one last hope. She looked at Miss Calendar imploringly. "Can you do the spell again?"

Miss Calendar shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. It is an old spell, a dark curse that was lost in time. It should have never been cast in the first place. It is not proper for mortals to meddle with souls. Even if I knew the curse, I doubt I could perform it. It's very powerful magic's, not for such mid level practitioners as myself."

Giles got himself under control in the meantime." Back to the original plan then." He said and begun to clean his glasses.

But one thing troubled me. "What about the invitations to our homes? Can he still enter?"

My question caught everyone by surprise. Giles rose , alarmed. "Good Lord, you are right Xander. He can enter our houses uninvited. We must do the revocation spell on our homes immediately."

We planned it all carefully, to make sure all our homes were protected. But ot was too late for Willow's fishes. Angelus made a necklace of them with string and needles. He was a creative fellow, you have to give him that.

He almost got Joyce, but luckily we were able to cast the spell and he got stuck in the doorway. But not before he played the sick joke on us, making Joyce very angry at Buffy.

He played the part of older boyfriend who was a stalker. He enjoyed telling her he slept with her daughter.

I felt pleasure at his frustrated face, when he realized he could not enter. He flashed me a vicious glare, promising pain and misery. I just gave him the finger. You know, it is hard to be scared of vampires sometimes, when you remember being so badass that guys like Orochimaru would run away. And Orochimaru would have had Angelus by the balls in second. He was nothing compared to the Snake Sannin.

But the look promised terrible things for us all. I made my choice that night.

***

I skipped the school next day, pretending to be sick. Cordelia stayed away to avoid getting it from me. Charming, really.

Didn't take long to reach Buffy's place, and i enjoyed walking in the sun. When I knocked, Joyce opened the door. "Oh, it's you Xander. Come on inside."

I winced at her invitation, Buffy didn't warn her of the danger. "Hi, I just wanted to see how were you doing after the last night." I said and walked in.

Joyce led me to the living room, making a face that said it all. "Don't remind me. I am still surprised with Buffy's choice of boys to date. First that Pike fellow, and now this maniac. Both too old for her."

Pike? I'll have to remember that.

"I just wanted to see how were you doing Mrs. Summers. I met Angel before and did not like him either, but even I did not think he was nuts."

She smiled at me. "You are very nice boy. Thank you for your concern. I really don't understand my daughter. You are a decent young man, and her age. And I'm sure you are not a stalker."

I laughed, feeling flustered by her compliments. It was rare for me to be praised by the adults. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Alas, Cordelia owns me now, and I'm glad about it."

Joyce just shrugged. "Good for her. Listen, are you hungry, I made a lunch."

I accepted her offer, she was a great cook. Nice steaks, baked potatoes, salad and coke filed our plates and then our bellies. It was divine. Joyce beamed at my praise of her culinary skill. But she was perceptive , and decided to talk seriously.

"It is unusual to have you here by yourself Xander. Do you wish to talk to me about something?"

I took a breath and answered, this was going to be hard. " True, i did come to talk with you Mrs. Summers." I looked at her seriously. "I have a confession to make, sort of."

She got panicky, and her eyes widened. "Please don't tell me you are in love with me. I had one young admirer before, and it was too embarrassing and weird."

I almost sprayed her with my coke. "No, no! It's nothing like that."

She calmed down, only to jump in the couch she was sitting at. She saw my eyes turn red, since I activated my Sharingan.

She gasped. "My God, what is wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing. And everything?" I said , and she was confused. "Is that a mutation? Does it hurt?"

I nodded. "Yes, it is a mutation of sort. No, It isn't painful. Quite the contrary."

She wondered what I meant obviously, so i explained. "I can see better than any normal human, and some other stuff is possible, but there is no need to go in the detail. What I wanted to do is to open your eyes to the strange, to the hidden."

"Why?"

"It's complicated Mrs. Summers." I hesitated, but she was now determined. "Then make it simple." She said in steely tone. Angry mom mode, uh-oh.

"Do you still remember when you sent Buffy to the loony bin?" I asked, and Joyce looked very upset." I asked, and Joyce looked very upset. "Yes I do. Hank made a deal to have her evaluated to avoid the trial. She burned the gym down, and almost the whole school. It worked. She stopped talking about vampires and demons, and she was set free."

I sighed. "What if I told you she lied? That she was right?"

"About what? That the monsters are real? Please, don't make ridiculous statements Xander." Joyce scoffed. Her automatic refusal to believe mad me annoyed. So I made a hand sign and blew a torrent of fire out of my mouth. Joyce screamed, until I caught her by the shoulders. She calmed down a little, and I continued with my story. I went to tell her about the real Sunnydale, and about demons, magic and about her daughter, The Slayer.

By the time I was finished, she was eerily calm. Scary in fact. "Let's see if I have it right. My daughter is the last in the long line of chosen warriors against the evil. She is mystically empowered, and she must fight for her life on daily basis until she dies. Wait, she died once and you saved her. Now there is the other girl and Buffy is still this Slayer."

I gulped, and she continued the recap. "Now, there is this international organization, these Watchers who train Slayers and help them to fight the evil forces. When one Slayer dies, another is chosen. By whom?"

I shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, nobody knows. But most of the Watchers believe it to be God himself. They can only find slayers, and the potentials, nothing more. As far as they can determine, the choice is completely random. It could have easily been you."

Joyce looked tired. "I can't believe this is real. But it explains a lot about Buffy's behavior. She was so different before, and then she started to disappear for whole days, only to return late and tired. Her clothes stank, or were torn. Then the fire incident. My God, I sent my daughter to the mental institution when she needed me the most."

I felt bad for her. "It's all right now, Mrs. Summers. Buffy is fine, better than that. She is one of the most successful Slayers in history. You should be proud of her."

Joyce shot ma a look of anguish. "Proud? Xander, my baby girl had to face the monsters every night for the last few years. And I wasn't there for her. No, I put her in the nut house instead. Then Hank left us. God, what she had been through!"

She looked sad then. "There is no way back, isn't it? She can't be unchosen, right?"

I looked guilty, but she just sighed. "Yes, of course. "

I hurried to reassure her about Buffy's safety. "Hey, no need to be so glum Mrs. Summers.

Buffy isn't alone. And Giles is great guy, he would die for her."

"Giles?" Joyce queried, and I grinned. "Yep, he is our school librarian and her Watcher. He likes Buffy like a daughter. He used to work for the British Museum as the curator. "

Joyce seemed interested. "Oh great. We can discuss some things from our fields of expertise, since I deal with art too. I guess I should cut him some slack since he works for the organization that lets young girls do the work of men."

I shuddered, she was going to make Giles sorry for being born. His fate, not mine, heh.

I noticed she was looking at me now. "Why do you do it Xander? It is very dangerous from what you've told me."

"What else should I do? I watched my best friend turn to dust before my eyes, after being killed by those things, and I swore to myself to do everything to stop them by helping Buffy. It's like seeing an accident, you just have to help the victim. Besides, I do have my own tricks now."

Joyce looked resigned, but also determined. "I can't talk you out of it, obviously. Nor my daughter. But there is going to be some order from now on, certain rules will be set and followed. "

I swear i sensed killer intent emanate from Joyce. Buffy was in trouble, big trouble. Giles too. They were going to kill me.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

After talking with Mrs. Summers I decided to train for the day. I just wanted to use the opportunity to run under the spring sun. I activated the weight spell and felt at least twenty kilograms heavier.

I trained for most of the day, rested plenty and ate in the dinner bar, just like most of the people who didn't cook for themselves. Ever since Giles hired me, I had some cash to spend.

I was three blocks away from my house, and the night was over the city. I heard faint scream from the alley nearby. I stalked in, carefully concealing the sound of my steps. It was a vampire attack, a common occurrence around here.

There were two of them, one male and one female. The victim was the blond girl of my age. I recognized her, despite the bruises. Amy Madison, the daughter of that crazy witch Catherine.

Catherine Madison was a powerful witch who hijacked her daughter's body to relive her glorious days from high school, when she was a famous cheerleader. She tried to kill us with some spell, but it got back at her and we found her later imprisoned in the trophy statue.

Almost a year later I caught Amy doing the Jedi mind trick on our teacher to get better grades. I dragged her to Giles who talked with her, trying to warn her of the consequences of the magic abuse. It didn't seem to work, so we showed her mom in the statue. She got the message, loud and clear.

And now, she was about to be a dinner for monsters. Not if I had it my way. I sprayed the holy water at them and they hissed in pain and jumped away from Amy.

"Amy, get over here!" I called out to her and she limped towards me. I grimaced. She would never be able to run away, not even with my help. I had to stay and fight. Amy wheezed in pain and exhaustion, and I pushed her towards the entrance of the alley.

They laughed, and the male sneered at me. "What will you do kid? Run alone and save yourself, or will you stay and die?"

I growled. "Why don't you two try me and find out?"

My challenge made them laugh and the girl snickered. "Gosh, two meals for us then!"

She jumped at us, high and fast. It seemed she would remain airborne for a long time. I guess that's how the stories of flying were born. I almost missed the attack, so sudden her move was. Chakra surged through me, my Sharingan came alive. It was a simple matter to let her land too close to do any serious harm. I breathed a jet of flame right in her face and she was dead, forever. She screamed nicely for a moment before bursting into ashes.

The other guy was smarter, and knew how to fight, somewhat. His kicks and punches had good form, but he knew shit about real martial arts combat. He must have picked the moves from the television.

Still, he was faster and stronger and that kept him ahead of me. He played with me, relying on his superior healing and stamina. He grinned all the time, excited by the struggle he was going to win.

I was losing. His punches that connected hurt like hell, despite my chakra reinforcement. My ribs ached whenever I moved or breathed. On the other hand, my hits rocked the vamp and drew blood. I heard his bones creak too, but he just shrugged it off since his healing took care of those almost instantly.

I felt desperate, and as I slowed down he became faster. And that's when it came. It felt like being cleansed of the drug that kept you slow and sluggish, weak and disoriented. My vision cleared, I could count motes of the dust in the air, even in slowed down. I could see his moves clearly now, and my eyes could detect his muscles shift below the skin and clothes. It was like remembering clearly something that was forgotten a long time ago. I saw like it was daylight, I could tell how many spots of dirt littered the walls at one glance. It was incredible.

He tried to take advantage of my distraction. His sharp claw like nails flashed at my throat and chest, so fast I almost missed the move. But my eyes saw, and my body reacted on it's own. I leaned back, just enough to avoid the blows and I remained on one foot as my other kicked out. Perfect move. I got him in the balls so hard he was paralyzed, his face twisted in pain and shock.

I took the chance to kick at his chin, rocking him backwards and then I executed a flawless flying kick that tossed his body in the wall. He stayed down, too stunned to avoid a follow up with the stake. Another one bites the dust.

I grabbed Amy by the arm and dragged us both in the street where it was much safer. I knew where she lived; it was only two blocks away. She was still shaking as we stood before her house, and I had to take her keys to open the door. When we entered, she locked the door and hugged me.

"Thank you Xander for saving my life." She whispered, and I patted her gently on the back. She disengaged from me, finally able to think. "My dad is on the business trip, so make yourself comfortable. I'll go and get the medical supplies. Wait in the guest room."

I watched as she hobbled upstairs and went to the guest room. There was a comfortable sofa which I used to lie down. My body ached; I was finally feeling the effects of the fight and the loss of the adrenaline in my system. I mentally reviewed the fight and smiled to myself. I knew that my dojutsu evolved again. Two commas now, and much greater combat ability. No pain, no gain, they say-well they are right. My ribs felt bad, not that I complained. It could have been a lot worse.

When Amy returned I saw her knee was now bandaged; it looked like a good job actually. But there was a lump on that bandage. She noticed me looking at it.

"Oh, that's my healing stone! My knee will be just fine in few hours."

"Really, you have something like that? Was that your mother's?" I asked. She nodded, her smile fading. "Yeah, I've been looking through her stuff for some time. It's an old family heirloom. Mom used it to fix her injuries when she used to be a cheerleader. I guess she was always a cheat."

"So, it works?"

"Oh, yes. In the morning my knee will be as good as new." Amy said proudly.

I nodded since I was impressed. "So, what's the price for such a spell-I mean, what do you need for it to work?"

Amy cocked her head curiously. "I didn't know you were into this stuff."

I shrugged. "With the way things are, I had to be interested. Magic is often dangerous and unpredictable. And there is always the price to pay."

She knew what I was getting at. "Don't worry, this is a light spell. It takes only plants to make it, as they are symbol of life and growth."

"I see." I answered, feeling relieved. "Do you have more of these?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but such stones are rare nowdays. And I think also very expensive to buy."

I watched her as she peered at me below her eyelashes. She looked sweet and cute that way.

"I noticed you used a fire spell to kill that girl vampire." She said. I guess she was curious about my strange ability.

"It's not a spell, not like any you would know about." I answered.

"Then what it is?"

I shrugged. "It's hard to explain, but in a nutshell I can gather my life force and convert it into another type of energy, such as fire."

She nodded. "I noticed you made a strange sign with your hand. Was that like gesturing for spells?"

"Yes, I usually need hand signs to perform the technique. Without them the results would be far less spectacular."

"Can you do a lot of these techniques?"

I chuckled. "Not as much as I would have liked." No need to go in the detail, some things are best kept secret. Amy nodded emphatically. "I think I know what you mean by it, spells can be pretty taxing too. It takes a lot of focus and control to perform spells, that's why they got me. I'm still learning. My mom would have fried them instantly."

I grimaced. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about what happened to her."

Catherine was still trapped in the statue, cursed by her own rebounded spell. Amy looked away from me. "Don't be sorry. You guys saved me that day. My dad and I are happy again, we are a real family now. Just like before mom drove him away."

She looked at me again. "So, do you do this often; killing vampires?"

"Not really, I do what I can when I can't avoid them. They are stronger and faster, so I use other tricks besides going hand to hand with them. Holy water works good, fire too."

She giggled. "I must remember to buy a water gun too."

"I recommend that wholeheartedly. holy water burns them like an acid."

Amy suddenly rose and kneeled next to me, her hand begun sliding up my thigh towards the crotch area. She started to unzip my trousers, but I stopped her. "What are you doing Amy?" I asked feeling very embarrassed.

She blushed. "You know…I just wanted to thank you properly."

"That's nice, er, but unnecessary." I said. My junior was getting antsy. Sue me, I'm just a guy after all. But Cordy would have killed me. "I never expected any gratitude Amy. And I'm with Cordelia, you know that."

She sighed and removed her hand. "I know, I never meant it as a permanent deal, just one time, you know , to express my gratitude."

Okay, that was freaky. Until Halloween, there was no way that any chick would have offered herself to me, even for saving them. And now, Cordelia was my girl and Amy Madison wanted to have sex just to say thanks. "Sorry Amy, I can't accept your offer. I love Cordy. But if I weren't with her, I guess I would say yes. You are pretty, you know."

She smiled accepting my reason to refuse. "I understand. Well, my offer stands if you change your mind."

Damn, I was good. I managed to turn down a nice chick without angering her, and she even said she would wait till later.

I left her there, excusing myself with the story of having to speak to my folks about some family stuff. But I didn't sleep well that evening. Buffy was going to be so mad at me tomorrow.

Knowing what I knew, I ditched classes again and hid in the library with Giles. He was watching me in confusion-I never liked to spend my time reading his boring tomes and diaries. I guess Joyce didn't rip him a new asshole. Yet.

Well, shit hit the fan after lunch. Buffy stormed in the library looking for poor me. I was hiding in the cage, and Giles wondered why she looked ready to kill.

She smiled sweetly at him. "He didn't tell you? Of course he didn't, that little rat."

"Who?" Giles asked.

"Xander, that's who!" Buffy hissed angrily. "He went to see my mom yesterday and spilled the whole story to her. Giles, she knows everything!"

Naturally, he started to pace and pinch the bridge of his nose. He knew where I was, but he didn't tell her. I loved him at the moment. "How did she react when you talked with her?" I think he was going to be pretty forgiving towards me, if he asked that.

Buffy deflated a bit. "Um…she said she was sorry for not believing me back in L.A. and for not supporting me when I needed her the most. She now believes in vampires and all the evil things that go bump in the night."

I swear, Buffy seemed confused and bewildered. Giles sighed in relief. "Well, I suppose it could have been a lot worse Buffy. Your mother seems to have accepted the reality and is willing to back you up. That's what you always wanted, didn't you?"

Buffy went angry again. "Yes, I did. But he had no right to tell her without my permission. Giles, she wants to monitor my slaying activities now. Like, I still have to tell her what am I doing. By the way, I'm grounded till I'm thirty! And she wants to talk with you too, to coordinate and other stuff!"

Giles resumed his pacing and started to clean his glasses nervously. I bet he was afraid of Mrs. S too. "You can come out now Xander." He said, his voice was ominous. I think he decided I should suffer too.

Buffy glared at me as I exited the cage. I glared at G-man for ratting me out. Coward.

"Hi Buffy !" I greeted her with false cheer, and I made sure not to be too close to either of them. She crossed her arms and looked very irate. "Don't hi me, rather explain why did you think you had the right to talk to my mom about my personal life."

Her personal life?! That was enough. "I did it for your own good Buffy. And for your mom's sake too."

"Oh really?" Buffy spat. She didn't believe me. "Are you still jealous of Angel? Is that why you ratted me out?"

I sighed sadly, I was disappointed she would still believe such things about me. "I am sorry , but it's not true Buffy. I love Cordy now, you know that. I know how it feels. To watch someone you cared about become a monster, and that you have to kill that person to save others."

Her anger faded, I saw I was getting to her. She was just so confused. "You know what is Angelus like, you did read the journals like we all did. He almost got your mom Buffy! He won't stop. What a beautiful revenge, to turn the Slayer's mother and have her fight her own daughter. Or, send her out of Sunnydale into the world filled with the ignorant victims. Imagine the torment of the Slayer, thinking about the thing that was her mother, now a killer. He wouldn't kill you, no, he would let you live for years eating yourself from anguish. Need I go on?"

She shrank back from me and my words. Indeed, words can cut deeply. I had to make my point stick, hard. "You see how vulnerable you are? Your mother has the right to be aware of the danger. How else she could be safe? Yesterday, she invited me to enter the house-is that good enough for you?"

Buffy winced knowing about the no invitation rule. I crouched before her, I didn't want to let her not to look at me. "Buffy, your mom doesn't think you are crazy or a freak. She is concerned about you and wants you to be safe."

Buffy sniffed, which seemed childish and cute. "I didn't think in those terms Xander. When I tried to tell her before, I ended up in that nuthouse. Two months Xander. I was so scared and angry. I almost convinced myself I was delusional, just to get out of there."

I hugged her, and she relaxed a little. "Buffy, your mom explained it to me. They put you there to avoid the trial and that was the only way to save you from being sent to the juvie prison."

Buffy nodded. "Mom told me that too." She still glared at me. "But you still should have talked to me first. I deserved the chance to do it myself, you know."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, I should have. Butb I didn't trust you enough, I guess." It hurt to admit that but it was the truth.

"Why?" She asked, her feelings hurt.

"You were right," I said, "I was angry at you. Not because I felt jealousy towards Angel. But because you chose to be for the first time with a vampire. A vampire! He was a dead cold thing, older than dirt. I ask you now, what's wrong with normal guys? Is it really so bad if the guy is weaker than you? It's about what he was, not who he was. And it's about what you are too."

Buffy was surprised, struck by my vehemence. And I hope a little ashamed. "I can't explain Xander, I knew all that. But he was a gentle soul, so much in pain. He tried to avoid me, he even once told me to choose you, not him.

That night, he could not contain his feelings. He gave me a claddagh, a promise ring as was the custom of his people. In his soul, we were already wed. I loved him then more than anything."

I felt for her then, her pain touched even me. She was truly sad, like a grieving widow.

Even though I would never comprehend her actions, I felt for her. We were different people.

And that was all.

We remained together, lost in thought of our lost friends and loved ones. But I could not let one thing go unasked. "You know, your mother told me that you had a boyfriend, some guy called Pike. Is that for real?"

She buried her face in her hands and groaned. I laughed.

***

Things calmed down later. Giles had a serious talk with Mrs. S and survived. Actually she bestowed unofficial parental powers on him, which meant he had the right to punish her daughter as if he were Joyce. I still remember and tremble at the evil grin he sent Buffy. She run.

Amy Madison became a part of the gang. She was good with books and spells, and Giles was grateful for any help. Cordelia felt less than enthusiastic, she saw that Amy was very friendly towards me. I avoided the disaster there, somehow.

One thing was good about Amy's presence. Her family owned several useful healing potions. One of them was rather peculiar; it involved the use of the werewolf blood freely given. Oz was quite willing. When he was transformed, he healed almost instantly unless he was hurt by silver. In human form, he still healed faster and had better senses. The best potion came from his blood when he was wolf-but only Willow could approach him then to take the blood. Giles found it fascinating. I was freaked and scared out of my mind.

G-man and Miss Calendar were still estranged, we rarely saw her any more. She seemed preoccupied with something. I guess Giles was still feeling hurt by her deception. I personally believed he was an idiot to leave such a hot babe alone. She was too fine to be left to some undeserving cretin.

There was one freaking thing that happened at the school. Buffy and Angelus somehow got possessed (and I wonder who did not get possessed at least once in this crazy place)

by two ghosts. They were a teacher and her student who had an affair. She broke it off and he couldn't take it, so he shot her and killed himself too.

Their souls were stuck here, unable to get peace to move on.

The teacher possessed Angelus, and the student took over Buffy. Talk about gender confusion. The spirits reenacted the tragedy, but this time it ended happily-Angelus did not die from the bullet, thus the teacher was able to forgive the kid for shooting her.

While that happened, we had to wait outside the school-there were millions upon millions of bugs covering the whole place. I hate bugs, did I mention that?


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER NINE**

It was late when my phone rung, interrupting my practice with hand seals. I picked it up wondering who it was.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Xander, please come to my place with Cordelia." Buffy spoke. Her voice, I think she was crying. "We need to see Giles."

"Okay Buffy, but what's going on?" I asked again, now really worried.

Buffy sobbed uncontrollably. "Miss Calendar is dead. Angel killed her and left her body for Giles to see. I am afraid he is going to do something bad. Please, hurry up."

She hung up and left me with the phone in my hand staring numbly at the wall. I finally got over the shock and called Cordy.

"Hi Xander, did you miss me?" She asked coyly. She and I sometimes engaged in phone, ahem, activities.

"There is no time for that Cordy. Pick me up as soon as possible, we are going to Buffy's to pick her up. Miss Calendar is dead."

There was a pause while she digested the news. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"You bet. Please, hurry."

In the end, it took us about thirty minutes to reach Buffy's house. She and Willow did not waste time on greetings; they just seated themselves behind me and Cordelia.

"Please Cordelia, hurry up. I am afraid for Giles. He sounded really bad on the phone." She was still crying.

"All right, all right. I am going as fast as I can." Cordelia answered. Despite her grumpy manner, she was worried too.

I turned towards Buffy on the back seat. "Care to explain what exactly happened?"

She sniffed, rubbing her red eyes. "He called and told me what happened. He could not speak for long, the police was there. Angel made his move. He killed Miss Calendar and left her body in Giles's bed. Giles called the police and the ER, but she was dead for certain. He knew it was Angel, he left a drawing behind, like a signature."

I fumed on the inside. That sick bastard. I knew he would attack us eventually, but to be honest no one is really ready to see their friends die. The shock was strong and that was exactly what that undead freak wanted. He wanted us afraid, weak.

Cordelia parked in front of Giles's place and we hurried out of the car. It looked like in those cop shows. Yellow tape everywhere telling us that this was the crime scene and that only cops could enter. Of course we disregarded the warning and entered.

There was a floor covered by red roses, all trampled up now. They led up the small stairway and we saw candles everywhere. His place looked messy, probably due to the police investigation.

Buffy lifted the sketch of Miss Calendar. "This is certainly Angel's work. I recognize the style. He must have set this up, to make the shock as bad as possible."

"That bastard!" I growled. "Giles must be so hurt, but where is he?"

"Maybe he is at the police station?" Cordelia answered.

"I don't think so guys." Willow said and pointed at Giles's weapons chest. "I think he went after Angel."

"To kill him." I said, but Buffy shook her head. "To get himself killed. We must stop him before it's too late."

"Wait guys," Cordelia stopped us. "Maybe the police found the chest and took the weapons."

It was a sound explanation, but I knew otherwise. "Not likely Cordy. He placed a low level 'ignore me' spell on it. Those cops could not even think about that chest. He took the weapons. Buffy is right, he went after Angel."

"But where is Angel?" Willow asked.

Buffy looked really determined to save Giles. "I think I know where he is. Remember spike's factory guys?"

We nodded. Buffy continued. "I think he is there, and I'm pretty sure Giles knows it too."

"But I burned a big chunk of that place." I protested.

Buffy nodded and started towards the door. "Exactly. But not all of it. I bet he thinks we would not look there."

Again, we piled up in the car and Cordy slammed down on the gas pedal. We didn't go as fast as we wanted, but the traffic laws existed for a reason. To keep you alive.

We were late. The factory was emitting smoke and light, a clean indicator of the fire. Buffy jumped out of her seat. "Xander, you are with me. Girls, be ready to move as soon as we return with Giles."

Buffy started to run towards the factory, me at her heels. The smoke was plentiful, making hard to see what was going on. One thing was certain, even vamps would be scarce with so much fire around.

One vamp tried to stop us, but Buffy merely leaned aside and planted the stake in his heart. A second, that's all it took to kill him. She meant business.

The next two didn't last much longer. She fended of the first and the second leapt up at me, his game face on. I exchanged a few blows with him and Buffy was already done with her vamp victim. I notice she wanted to help me.

"Go get Giles, I can deal with this!" I told her and she nodded and disappeared in the smoke.

The vamp grinned, exposing his fangs. "Now you die human!" he snarled and rushed at me. Just as he grabbed my shirt, I jammed my water gun in his waist line and squeezed the trigger. Have you ever been sprayed with acid on the balls? You better pray it never happens, because the vamp screamed like a little girl. His pain was so evident that I felt sorry for him. So I staked his sorry ass. He didn't mind.

I entered the building and activated the Sharingan. It was hard to see anything otherwise.

Two more vamps emerged from the smoke, they didn't look too happy. I bet the screamer brought them here. My choice was simple-fry them before they notice you.

A fast sequence of seals, and I launched a big fireball at them. Their eyes went round with surprise, and that was it for them. The technique dispersed some of the smoke and I saw Buffy drag Giles who seemed unconscious. I dodged several pieces of the ceiling and helped her to drag him out and in the car.

We drove away at full throttle before authorities arrived. The next stop was at the Casa de Summers.

"My God, what happened to him?" Joyce asked and directed us to put him on the couch in the living room.

It was a fair question. Giles looked like a victim of the car accident with his bruises, torn clothes and being out of it.

Buffy fidgeted. "Most of it was from the fight with Angel, but the bruise on the jaw is mine. He was crazed and I had to overpower him. He would not have left the factory otherwise."

Joyce sighed. "You did the right thing Buffy. Men can be so stupid sometimes."

She looked at me. "Xander, bring the ice from the kitchen. Mr. Giles will need it when he wakes up."

I was glad to do something. When I returned with the ice, Giles woke up. He glared at us and at Buffy. He was unhappy with our intervention it seemed, but he decided to give us the silent treatment instead of yelling at us.

But Joyce wouldn't have it. "Is that the way you thank people for saving your stupid life Mr. Giles?" She admonished him. "Or will you take the ice and apologize for scaring them for life? They've lost one friend already, why did you try to have them lose another?"

Each question mad him flinch, and he hissed as the ice was placed on his jaw. Buffy sat next to him, and place her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Giles, but I couldn't let you die. You are too important to me, to all of us. I am ready to do what is necessary, but I need your help. Please."

We all watched silently, knowing this was between Giles and Buffy. They were a watcher and a Slayer, a teacher and a student, but before all that they were friends. Even Joyce remained silent.

But after what seemed like forever Giles patted Buffy's knee. "I'm sorry too. I just was so angry, so sad. I hated him so much I could not think. That's what he wanted I guess."

***

Several weeks passed since we buried Miss Calendar. Not one of her gypsy cousins came; I guess they were too scared of Angelus. We all were in fact. But he remained unseen, leaving only death in his wake.

We all avoided being alone during the night, unless we were at our homes. Streets were not safe. I can tell, because he sent his goons one night after me.

It happened a week ago. They were new, and there were four of them. I first noticed them when they tried to run me down with the car. I run and they laughed trying to kill me. I entered the park, all the time thinking if this was some kind of trap to get me there.

But it wasn't. They ditched the car and rushed after me. Game faces were on, they were hungry. Good, they would be careless. One thing they did was smart-they left the car and split up, so I could not blow them up with explosive tags.

On the other hand, it would make it easier to take them one on one. I run through the trees and left a distinct scent for them to follow. Then I backtracked a little and crouched on one tree with sturdy limbs.

I heard him first, and then he came moving like a shadow. But my Sharingan saw him, his demonic chakra like a neon sign for me. I threw the stake at him, but he caught it with the blurry speed.

"Ha, mortal! You thought you could get me like this."

I hated it when they talked like that, using terms of mortal and yadda yadda about living forever. The idiot was barely few days old and he talked like he had centuries behind him. You could always tell when they were old. So I activated the explosive tag wrapped around the stake and he went boom. Idiot.

The moronic vamp served my purpose well. His manner of demise attracted the other two who were now staring at the spot where the first vamp died. Smoke and fire hid my presence, and I was ready for them. I made hand seals and blew a big fireball at them. They became a pile of the ash very quickly.

I went back to the entrance of the park, and the last one waited there grinning like a cat that got the mouse. I had nothing to loose. I made a few seals and my hands tingled with the electrical current.

He assumed a brawling stance, sloppy and wide for the counterattack. I run at him, my hands tingling. He threw a strong haymaker that my Sharingan saw coming a mile away. I let it pass over my head and I caught his wrist. He jerked in pain as the large voltage shocked him, and he yelped in surprise when my other hand smacked him in the face stunning him momentarily-it was rather painful to have a large amount of the electricity jammed in your face. He didn't even feel the stake I planted in his chest.

I did not mention the attack to the gang. I did not want Buffy to worry too much about me.

Angelus continued his terror. He often called Buffy, but never speaking. He just liked to remind her he was watching. He even once left a picture of her at her windowsill indicating he climbed up to watch her while she slept. It was creepy.

He killed our classmates and they came at us, forcing Buffy to stake them. That was really nasty. Then he stopped. He wanted probably to lull us in the false feeling of safety. No way, we remained alert and paranoid.

Our daily lives, well they went on. Nothing weird really. Willow took over Miss Calendar's job, which was sad and funny. A student teaching other students. But Wills did it rather well and in the memory of Miss Calendar.

Speaking of our lives, we were at the beach celebrating the latest victory of the Sunnydale swim team. They entered the state semifinals, which was a miracle. Our sport teams never amounted to much before, even our football players were average. But considering our mortality rate, it was a fantastic achievement. I bet that in survival games, ours would be the best team in the world. Sunnydale had that effect, survival of the fittest at it's best.

So everyone was happy and especially the swimmers. They suddenly became jock stars and cool enough to pick up chicks with ease.

Buffy wasn't in the mood for festivities and she ventured away from the crowd. I saw one swimmer, Cameron approach her.

But something distraced me. It was Dodd McAlvy. He was pushing Jonathan Levinston's head in the tub with water and ice. I saw Buffy raising to her feet , she was going to stop Dodd. Bad idea, just like when she stopped Larry from pummeling me. No guy would be grateful to the girl for saving him-it was the ultimate humiliation. But Buffy never understood that.

I broke off my conversation with Cordy and pulled Dodd by the shoulder. "Hey Dodd, stop that crap." I almost sent him on the ass, I guess my strength was increasing.

Dodd glared at me angrily. "Harris, what the fuck you think you're doing?"

I grinned, amused by his anger. "I don't know. Maybe I was trying to save your ass from Snyder? I bet he would love to chew your ass for this, he hates jocks."

Dodd seemed ready to fight, but Cameron stopped him. "Lay off the geeks Dodd, Harris is right. Get a beer and relax man, this is a party you know."

I nodded to Cameron and returned to Cordelia who seemed amused by the whole thing. Jonathan followed me. "Thanks Xander, I hate it when they pick on me. Man, what asses they are. Until recently they were pathetic losers with bad skin, just like the most of us. Who made them look like gods?"

I patted him on the shoulder. "Forget about it Jonathan. Who cares what they think. Take a beer, relax."

He was glad to accept the offer and joined me at the spot with Cordy and Willow. He started to talk stuff with Willow so Cordy and I walked away to make out in privacy of the night.

The next day Willow was very upset. Snyder told her to fix the grade of the swim team member. I was angry for that. "Just like that? He actually told you to change Gage's grade?"

Willow was embarrassed. "Not directly, no. But he made it perfectly clear what he wasn't telling me."

"But that's so unfair."

Cordy had her own opinion on the matter. " Xander, I know you're upset. But the truth is, some people are entitled to certain privileges. They are called winners."

I glared at her. "And what of the saying that all men are born equal?"

She just scoffed. "Propaganda made up by the ugly and less deserving."

I huffed and gave up the argument. When she was like that, there is no way I could win.

But I had another complaint. "Okay, forget that. What irks me the most is that Buffy isn't here to share in our outrage. Instead, she is one of them now."

Truly so, we saw her ride with Cameron in his car. Cordelia sniffed and walked away with willow in tow. I sighed and went to my class.

To my eternal joy we met Buffy later in the library. She had been accused of the violent assault against Cameron.

"Can you believe that? I attacked him!" She complained. "When I told the nurse he was trying to have his way with me , he denied it and told them I was crazy and dangerous. And that troll Snyder took his side!"

I just sighed. "What did you expect, it's Snyder and his precious sports team. He hates your guts Buff. Besides, you weren't in any danger. Cameron had no chance to do anything to you."

She glared at me. "that's not the point. He was supposed to be a gentleman, I am a girl you know."

I shrugged. That Cameron was supposed to be a nice guy was questionable. I doubt he knew the word actually.

Giles was not interested in that anyway. "Well, can we change the subject on the more important issue?"

"What?" Buffy asked.

Giles sighed in irritation. "Oh, it's just that someone's remains were found on the beach this morning."

"Dodd McAlvy's remains to be precise." Willow added. Of course, she had the access to the coroner's computer. Creepy.

Buffy was intrigued. "Was it the vampire attack?"

Giles shook his head. "Hardly possible, unless they like to eviscerate their victims now. Nothing left but the skin and muscle."

My sarcasm just went off. "So this is not a boat accident?"

Giles glared at me. " Snyder wants this kept quiet. To not disturb the school."

Translated, it meant the swim team.

Buffy frowned in confusion. "So, we are looking for something that rips people apart and eats their insides. Only their skin remains behind."

I could not resist myself. "Yeah, how could they? The skin is the best part."

This time everyone glared at me. I wasn't sorry, you know. Someone has to see the bright side to all things.

As usual, we hit the books. Nada on such things, just nothing. I was tired and went to the lounge for soda. But someone bumped into me.

"Hey, watch it!" I spoke in annoyance. It was Cameron. I decided to mess with him a little. No one touches my girls, no one.

I mock bowed to him. "Oh sorry your Wet Highness, I did not see you. By the way, your nose seems so noble now, does it still hurt? I bet your mommy will kiss it to make it better."

He got in my face. "Are you messing with me Harris?"

I almost laughed at his macho posture. He didn't know I could kill him in one move. I released some killing intent, making him step away. "Maybe I am? What are you going to do? Molest me like you tried with Buffy?"

I smiled at him coldly, he stepped away again. "If I hear again that you harassed some poor girl I'll make sure you won't swim ever again."

He moved out of my way, not even knowing why he was afraid of me. I went to the vending machine. I had a hard choice. Orange or grape?

I heard some crashing noise and rushed to the cafeteria. Man, something was really smelly.

I saw the skin on the floor. It was Cameron's. It seemed that something gutted him like a fish, from the neck to the groin. His insides were gone, just skin was left.

I heard a growl behind me. I turned in surprise and saw the thing. It looked scaly, like a fish. It had whiskers, pointy teeth and claws. Ridged brow, no ears or sexual organs. It was taller than me. I decide to run, who knew how strong t was.

I burst in the library. "Guys, there's one of those things at the cafeteria. It ate Cameron."

***

It was a mess to deal with the police and Snyder at the same time. The troll made us swear to stay silent. What could we do? Complain to the police? They didn't seem eager to have it talked about either.

I had a nightmare that night. I dreamed of Kisame and his shark like features. Brrr.

In the morning I was trying to describe the monster to the gang. I got tired of doing it, and just henged myself into the thing.

Giles peered at me closer and cleaned his glasses. "My, my. I have never seen such a thing. Maybe it's new."

I shrugged and dispelled the jutsu. "I don't know. But one thing is obvious now-it's after the swimmers only. First Dodd, now Cameron."

"Which means that Gage Petronzi is next." Cordelia concluded. She knew all of them by the name. "My God, that's so unfair. Just as we are to win something big, we face this. This town is cursed. I think I've lost my will to cheer lead."

I almost laughed. " I feel your pain. Not."

She shot me a look that meant I would be sorry for that remark. But I could not help myself.

Amy looked pensive. "It could mean someone wants revenge. They have been rather mean lately, especially to the geeks."

Willow seemed excited. " Oh, I know! It's Jonathan, they bullied him a lot lately."

Giles seemed unconvinced. " I don't think it's so simple. But I believe that Mr. Petronzi could use someone to watch over him."

Buffy nodded. "Sure, I'll watch him like a hawk."

I had another idea. "Then I will join the swim team to watch him when she can't."

***

It was rather easy to join the team. I was pretty good in the water and Coach marin was ecstatic with my performance.

"Harris, you are in. Where have you been until now? You should have tried to join sooner! Now, pack up and sign up. Don't be late tomorrow."

That was it. The guys were okay I guess. They welcomed me to the team with cheers and friendly jokes. Gage was all smiles.

"Welcome to the team Harris." he said and shook my hand. "I did not lnow you could swim so good."

I grinned. "Me neither, this is a total surprise for me."

We all chuckled and Tyrell was in joking mode. "Well, your girl will be happy. She's dating a sportsman again."

I took his words as a joke only, otherwise I would have to cram his teeth in his throat. Who was he to talk about what Cordelia wanted?

The practice was easy. But the girls in the audience drooled, over me to be exact. Cordelia looked ready to kill them.

As I swam I heard her yell. "I am dating a swimmmer! Go, go, go!"

Later we relaxed in the steam room. It was nice actually. We talked about various stuff, and I liked it. The guys weren't so bad, nor there was any pressure on the team to succeed. They really liked the swimming.

Buffy was waiting outside. "Give him five minutes Buffy, he is stll dressing up." I told her and sauntered away. I felt pretty good.

Several hours later, I was with her and Willow on the computer going through Gage's medical records. We were trying to discover why di he turn into that green monster. It seems that one of them entered the changing room and Buffy tried to protect Gage. Only he changed too, and she was double teamed. She barely escaped alive.

The nurse patched her up and she told the coach and Snyder what happened. They all claimed ignorance.

But the records said otherwise. The guys suffered from injuries, depression and headaches. All those signaled the steroid abuse. Nurse Greenleigh knew. And that meant that Coach Martin knew as well. But we still did not know how were the steroids given.

I was back in the steam room. I babbled about the stuff and then went to the real question.

"Okay, guys when do we get the juice to improve our stats?"

Sean looked at me feigning ignorance. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, I'm not stupid. The steroids, to give us the advantage. When do I get them too?"

Sean chuckled along with others in the room. "You are already getting them. They are in the steam, you just inhale the stuff." To emphasize the point, he inhaled deeply and smiled.

"Soon you'll be gliding in the pool like a shark."

I froze in panic. Kisame's face floated in front of me. These guys did not know what this stuff was doing. But I did. How much of that stuff was needed to become a fish monster?

I left the team and hurried to the library. "It's in the steam, the stuff that turns people in the fish." I explained. "I can't go back there, I don't wanna be a fish monster."

Buffy tried to calm me. "Xander, I am sure you will be fine. You've been there only three times. Much less than the other swimmers."

I was still worried. " I don't know how much of that stuff it takes to transform."

Cordelia was worried as well. "You'll be all right, won't you? I just got used to us being together and you've become popular too, kind of. Please, don't turn in the fish monster."

We moved into action next day. Buffy went to see the coach, and we went to stop the guys from going in the steam room again.

Cordelia and I went to look for stragglers, and we discovered another monster in the pool.

In the library, Giles and Willow were herding the others in the cage.

"We've found Sean." I announced.

"We can safely say he won't be coming back home." Cordelia added. "Being the fish monster and all."

Giles sighed. "I guess this is it then. These are still human."

"Where is Buffy?" I asked, and Giles told me she went to see the coach, but she wasn't back yet.

I found him in the equipment room. He was leaning over the hole in the floor that was leading to the sewer below.

"What's up Coach?" I asked curiously.

"Harris, where have you been today?" he asked, but I saw he was nervous.

I chuckled darkly. "Well, I've been avoiding the steam room. Because someone was putting in it some nasty stuff. A few doses of it, and you are a fish next day. Would you know something about it?"

That's when I heard some noise from the hole.

"Where is Buffy Summers?" I asked.

In answer, the coach lunged for the gun I just noticed. He was too slow for me. I jumped at him and hit him in the head with chakra enhanced fist. He crumpled on the floor , unconscious.

I looked in the hole then. Buffy was inside water and the monsters were attacking her. I lied down and extended my arm. "Buffy, jump up!"

She heard me and tossed one of them aside and jumped four meters up and I pulled her out of the hole. Luckily she was very small girl. She barely had fifty kilograms by my estimate.

"Thanks Xan." She said as I pulled her out.

"No problem, all for the team." I quipped smiling.

That was when I heard the noise and dodged instinctively. A steel pipe whooshed by my head and I threw the Coach over my shoulder. I cringed. He fell right in the hole.

The boys really liked Coach Marin. So much that they ate him whole. Case closed. We who were exposed to the steroids were sent to the clinic for the detox treatment, and Giles was pretty sure it would work. I hoped so too.

Cordy was glad with the outcome of the whole affair. "You know Xander, you don't have to be a swimmer to make me happy. I like you just as you are. Maybe you should try the football?"


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER TEN**

The summer was rising and the final exams were just around the corner. We slayed, we researched and we worried about Angelus. He has been scarce lately. Nobody saw him; we only knew he was active by the number of missing persons. He was recruiting new vampires and he was smart about it-he was taking all those new risers with him so that Buffy would not be able to stake them.

I reached a new level of my growth. The swim team incident did not leave me without consequences; something of the fish gene therapy that Coach Marin prescribed must have remained behind, even after the detox.

Hence my new ability to perform water based techniques. Shocking, isn't it? It was almost unheard in the Uchiha clan to have a water affinity, so I was pretty much on my own there. What a coincidence was that Itachi was partnered with Hoshigaki Kisame, a ninja from the Hidden Mist village. Kisame was the guy with features of a shark, also a merciless killer and as powerfull as any jinchuuriki. Itachi almost always had his Sharingan active, so he copied many of Kisame's jutsus. Lucky me, eh?

I was very happy to discover that I could perform three simple water techs-a water clone, a water bullet and a water spout. The first was self explanatory; I could make several useful water clones. They weren't strong, but were a perfect distraction. The second tech involved creation of small water balls that were fast and could knock out a civilian if they connected. The third was a variant of the bigger Water Wave, it was also a distraction. In this case, all those were much more dangerous since I planned to use holy water to make them. Imagine a vampire who would be drenched by a spout of holy water. I did, and I smiled in happiness.

My Sharingan remained on the two dots stage, but I did not complain. It was still very useful. I suspect that either i would need more chakra or experience another difficult opponent. I was sold on the latter option.

At the moment I was at the Westerfield cemetary with Buffy. We were trying to find Angelus's whereabouts. That proved difficult, since there were fourteen cemeteries in Sunnydale alone-that was a lot of ground to cover.

I was musing about our situation under the starry sky, not that we could see much of the sky due to the pollution and city lights. As I was idly flipping my stake, Buffy was talking to a vampire. It was fun to watch. She hit him in the head, then in the gut and after that came a strong uppercut that sent the thing on the back. The vampire recovered quickly and kipped up only to get pummeled by Buffy. After several times of the same thing she got bored and staked his ass.

I wasn't idle too anymore. I heard someone behind me-chakra enhanced hearing was useful, and I sidestepped the rush of said individual. It was another vampire. I used the opportunity to kick him in the back and he lost balance. Buffy flipped him on the ground and staked him. The beauty of the teamwork, don't you agree?

"Damn, no one wants to tell where Angelus is!" Buffy complained.

"I am personally more worried about the finals. There is a lot to be said about our educational system, but it's certainly not easy." I quipped as I started to walk with her.

"Don't mention the finals Xander." Buffy groaned. "I am so behind, my mom will kill me if I don't get good grades."

It was true. Mrs. S was sometimes very, very strict. But I think she had to be. Buffy could be very willful and hard to control. I think it was her slayerness. Now, Mrs. S had Giles on her side and Buffy lost much of her maneuvering space. Talk about being caught between two fires.

The next day we were all in the cafeteria during the lunch break and I was regaling the gang with the last night's expedition. Only Amy was missing, she had a music class. I was grateful for her presence in the gang-her healing potions helped to speed up Giles's recovery. Actually her potions could also be made into creams and oils, which made wonders for our bumps and cuts and bruises. They healed practically overnight. Cordelia had made Amy to make for her an individual stash, to make sure she could keep her face pretty and bruise free. Cordelia had her priorities straight.

At the moment Wills was determined to make sure that all the knowledge goes into Buffy's poor head. "Don't think you will fail Buffy. I will help you, even if you have to sweat blood to pass." She blushed. "I meant metaphorical blood."

Oz kissed her. "I think you are cute when you speak that way. I bet you would even bleed cutely."

I grinned and looked at my girl. "I think you are cute too. Want to kiss me?" I pawed at her mockingly and Cordelia shrieked in amused way. "Hands off mister! Your hands smell fishy."

I hugged her and we begun kissing. But of course, Snyder appeared in all of his glory. Not that there was much of it. I guess that was why he was so hateful all the time.

"What is this Missy?" He barked at Willow who sat on Oz's knees. "Don't you have your own chair? This is a school, not an orgy."

Willow scurried from Oz's lap and got herself the chair.

Buffy put in her usual smart mouth comment. "Yes sir. This is a school where we learn how to sit, not how to have an orgy. You are absolutely right about that."

We hid our smirks as he fired an acid response to Buffy's comment. "Watch it Summers. Just give me an excuse, and you are out of here."

When he left Buffy snorted derisively. "What a troll. I bet he never had a girl. Or a guy. Or a sheep."

We broke up in laughter, it was hilarious. Unfortunately, probably true as well.

Giles wasn't happy when we arrived in the library that afternoon. Someone broke in the museum and killed all guards and stole a statue. It was supposed to be demon that turned to stone. We all knew it was Angelus who did it.

Giles was explaining about the demon statue. "Acathla is said to be able to open a vortex with his breath, a vortex able to suck the whole world in another dimension where demon universe resides, apart from ours. And the whole world would suffer for eternity in that place, in that hell if that ever occurs."

Another Judge, really were these demons ever original? I mean, what's wrong with coexistence and that philosophy about letting others to live.

Giles had another gem of wisdom to share. "So far, this is not about to happen. Acathla was stopped by one paladin , whose holy sword pierced Acathla's heart and petrified him. The vortex was closed."

Willow seemed optimistic. "That means Angel can't pull out the sword, right? It's holy sword after all."

Unfortunately we could not be certain of that, so we hit the books again. Luckily our classes were to start again and we left Giles alone. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the world saving, it's just that all those books were hurting my eyes. It is too much work to read all those archaic books and strange languages.

Alas our happiness never lasts. We had to get back after school-the world doom knows no rest for the just and fair. Buffy and Willow had a surprise for us though.

"Giles, look what we found." Buffy spoke and gave him a paper.

He took it and read for a few moments before falling in the chair. "Good Lord, where did you get it?"

"We found it in the computer room. Buffy and I went there to study, and my pencil fell between two tables. Buffy went to pick it up and she saw the diskette lying there. This was on it."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a curse to bring back Angel's soul. Miss Calendar was working on it before Angelus killed her. She managed to finish it before that happened." Willow answered.

I saw where this was headed to. Buffy wanted to get her love back.

"I guess you want to do it?" I asked Buffy and Willow. They both nodded.

Giles wasn't so convinced. "Girls, this is a major spell. Even I am not sure if I could pull it off safely."

Willow was oddly stubborn. "I've read about it, you know for educational purposes. I think we can do it Giles. It was what Miss Calendar wanted."

I disagreed; magic was bad in most cases. Especially this time. "Guys, I hate to be the devil's advocate. But listen to me, the question is not about the feasibility of the curse, it's about morality of the act-who are we to decide that Angel's soul should possess Angelus again? Do we really want to do it to the poor guy again, to force him into cursed existence where he cannot be happy?"

But Buffy was being stubborn, as usual. "What do you mean about that?"

"Think Buffy; you will be condemning Angel to suffer for the sins of Angelus. To be honest, Angelus is a nasty vampire who should have been staked centuries ago, not cursed with soul. I think that those Gypsies were wrong to mess with natural order of things. They paid for it, why should we? Our job is to save the world, not a vampire."

Giles remained silent deciding to let us work this out. Maybe he trusted us to do what is best. I don't know, but still I appreciated his silence.

Buffy disagreed with me, of course. "I don't think so Xander. I think we owe Miss Calendar to try and use the curse she died for. Besides, we need an alternative, who knows what might happen. Maybe we won't be able to reach the statue on time, and Angel could be our last hope."

I shook my head helplessly. Willow looked determined to do it. I knew her; she would try it regardless of what we say now. She was like that sometimes.

"All right, we do this tonight. Amy can help Willow and Giles. That might lower the risk."

Giles nodded. "Fine then. We will do it tomorrow. It is necessary to prepare for the ritual. I don't think Angelus will release Acathla tonight, such things require time and procedure too."

The next day was creepy. I mean what do you call the fact that a vampire enters your classroom, tells you a message and let's himself be killed by the sunlight. I say it is creepy as hell. Everyone freaked out and ran, except for us. Naturally the students suppressed the nerve wracking memory and ascribed it to the lack of sleep and nerves.

Buffy was pacing in the library as we all debated about Angelus's latest demand.

"I have to go guys, he is really serious. You heard the vampire messenger; if I don't come he will slaughter people." She said nervously.

"He is doing that anyway Buffy. It's a trap and you know it." I told her.

"Dat is right Buffy." Kendra added. "Angelus is sick and evil, he is planning something."

Kendra arrived last night with warning from Sam Zabuto, her Watcher. She brought the sword of the same Paladin who got Acathla the first time. She remained with us to help us to solve the latest world endage.

Buffy knew we were right. "I know, but he is serious about killing many people. I should at least go to stop that and stall for time while you guys do the curse."

Giles seemed unconvinced so he made her compromise. "Fine, go and Xander will follow you from distance. Just in case. Kendra stays to cover us while you are gone. Good luck"

I gave Buffy a short lead, just a minute. I was loathe to leave the Scoobies alone, but I consoled myself with the fact that Kendra was protecting them. I just could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.

To my surprise, sicko kept his word. He came alone and I was already planning to ambush the bastard while Buffy was distracting him. He seemed awfully eager to attack and Buffy was not any different. But she was stalling, waiting for the curse.

I watched and sneaked around, and I saw it. He didn't take the opening in Buffy's defense when he should have. I knew vampires, they can't resist killing. Unless....

"Buffy, this is a set up! We must go back to the library." I warned her. Angelus disengaged from Buffy, laughing sweetly.

"Ha, ha, ha! You are so full of yourself Slayer. It isn't always about you. It has never been."

Buffy shot out of the cemetery like a bullet, and I went after her. She was faster than me, but that wasn't so important, I knew the way.

The library was in shambles. Furniture was overturned or broken, papers and supplies for the spell sewn across the room. And our friends down. Willow was under the shelf, and I watched as Buffy lifted it easily off her. I watched the others.

Oz and Amy were on the floor, with bruises and cuts, but alive. Giles and Cordelia were gone.

And I understood why Buffy ignored Kendra. She was dead. There were so many bruises and bites on her body, and blood was on the floor in puddles. But I was using the Sharingan to verify if anyone was dead so I didn't touch the others, I feared aggravating their injuries.

"Jesus, there must have been a ton of them to get her." I spoke silently to myself. I watched her lying, beaten and flashed back on the scene with Buffy when she drowned.

I just could not let her go without trying to bring her back. Buffy died too I remembered. Her Slayer powers saved her from the final death, I just helped her along.

So I kneeled by Kendra's side and set her for the CPR and something else I learned from Itachi's life as ANBU. All ANBU had the basic first aid training, which included heart stimulation with electrical impulses generated by the Shock Fist technique. It was a crude technique, but not everyone was a medic so it had to be used when there was no other way.

I angled her head back and started to give her mouth to mouth. One, two then three strong two handed pushes on the ribcage. Again, two breaths and three heart pressures.

I did it again, and again. I was frantic and didn't even acknowledge Buffy's hand on my shoulder. She was already calling the ER to send help, but I wasn't over yet.

I made the hand seals and felt my hands tingle with electrical current. I used a decent amount of chakra; Kendra was far stronger than any human.

I ripped her clothes apart; her nudity was irrelevant. I plunged down and her body twisted high under the shock. She remained still. I hit her again, and nothing.

I was desperate. Therefore I maxed my jutsu and pressed both hands angrily at her ribcage. "Live dammit!" I shouted.

Yet she remained still. I activated the Sharingan again, to memorize her as she was. She would not be forgotten I swore to myself.

But then I saw some color return to her, she had an aura again!

I turned to Buffy who was crying. "She is alive!" I said and Buffy kneeled down and leaned over Kendra's face. She smiled at me wondrously.

"You did it Xan! I can feel her breath. When the medics come they will take care of her."

I checked her vitals myself. "She is alive all right, but very weak. She must go to the hospital or she won't be alive for long."

We both were annoyed when two young and nervous cops jumped in with their guns aimed at us.

"Freeze! I want to see your hands in the air!" Cop nr. One demanded. God was he a cliché or not? Who did we look like, Ted Bundy?

The other one was nervous; I could see his hands tremble. Considering he looked barely twenty he must have been new to the force. Or Sunnydale. Or, God help him, both.

He looked at me and Buffy. "What the hell is going on here?"

Buffy stayed silent, her hands still up.

"Sorry sir," I answered with all the innocence I could muster." We just arrived too and found this carnage. We just called an ambulance; they are supposed to come soon. The black girl needed the CPR, that's why I have these blood spots on me. She really needs medical attention."

My explanation calmed the young cop, but the other was from Sunnydale. He was still paranoid as hell. He glared at me. "What are you two doing here anyway at this time?"

I shrugged helplessly, lies flowing from my mouth easily. I loved Itachi for his training.

"My girl and I were on a date. We came her to see our friends; we are in the book club so we often meet at the library. Mr. Giles lets us use it; he is the head of our club."

"And where is Mr. Giles?" the suspicious one asked while checking out our friends.

"I don't know, sir. He was not here when we arrived." I answered. I used a lot of the "Sir" rap; it always calmed the people in authority. They liked to be seen as important.

He young cop came up to his partner. "They are telling the truth Case. The ambulance is already on the way, they will be here in five minutes. The dispatch confirmed that a girl called Buffy Summers called."

Case demanded our Id's and calmed down when he saw Buffy's name. "All right. I need your statements and signatures for the record."

We were very happy to cooperate and Buffy used her excuse to go to the bathroom to call her mom. She just didn't trust cops. Me neither.

Snyder arrived then and saw us. His face darkened with anger. "Summers, Harris what is the meaning of this mess!?"

The older cop eyed him." You know these two? "

"Of course, I am their school principal. They are trouble. Especially the girl. Wherever she goes trouble follows. What have they done now?"

I was imagining Snyder screaming as I used a fire jutsu to torture the troll. He just had to show and try to get us in trouble. He really made me angry. And curious as to why he was so adamant in trying to get Buffy in trouble. Maybe he and I should have a chat one on one in the near future. If the world is still there.

Case looked at him and shrugged. "They did nothing wrong so far. In fact they did the right thing to call an ambulance for their injured friends. I s it true that they are friends and that they spend time here?"

Snyder scowled. He could not lie, not while I was there. "

Case looked at him and shrugged. "They did nothing wrong so far. In fact they did the right thing to call an ambulance for their injured friends. Is it true that they are friends and that they spend time here?"

Snyder scowled. He could not lie, not while I was there. "Yes, the whole lot is here all the time. I allow it since Mr. Giles is watching them"

"Who is he?" The younger cop asked.

Snyder seemed loathe to admit it. "He is my employee, a teacher at our school. I see he is not here. It figures, as soon as the adult is missing, children cause problems."

Then the ambulance arrived and we insisted to escort our friends to the hospital. Joyce came soon after us and boy was she a savior. The cops lingered around us, especially some bald dude named stein. He seemed too young for his Detective rank. When he started to insinuate Buffy's involvement in various strange occurrences, Joyce pulled out all stops.

She started to mention how she had a nice lawyer who would be interested in hearing how local police seems unusually suspicious of her underage daughter. No way. Joyce started to threaten a civil lawsuit. She openly asked why were they focused on us, instead on animals that attacked our friends and one teacher who was missing, probably kidnapped.

Stein vanished as soon as he saw he could not push Joyce around. He really seemed after Buffy. I was thinking that he maybe deserved a personal talk with me too. Yes, some day I was going to check him out.

Joyce took us aside to get some answers.

"It was a trap mom." Buffy answered. "Angelus drew us away from the gang and had his goons attack them. I fear he may have kidnapped Giles."

"Why would he do that?" Joyce frowned.

"He needs Giles for the ritual to awaken Acathla." I told her. "I am hundred percent sure on that."

"What will you do?" Joyce asked us.

"Save the world in any way we can." Buffy spoke with determination.

Cordelia entered the hospital and I hugged her tightly.

"Cordy, are you all right?" I whispered in her ear.

"I'm fine Doofus. I managed to escape to warn you, but I could not find you so I came here."

Stein emerged again and asked her if she saw who did it. She sneered and stuck the last nail in the coffin of his "Buffy did it" theory.

"They were ugly, smelly and had weird teeth. Need I go on?"

"No thank you Miss Chase." he mumbled and disappeared.

"I have to go." Buffy announced.

"Where?" I asked.

She looked furious. "I need that holy sword."

"I see good luck then. But how do we find Angelus? We still don't know where his lair is." I wondered.

"I can track him." Amy said. "All I have to do is find Giles. Where he is, Angelus will be there too."

Joyce took Amy with her car, so she could get her ingredients faster.

Oz woke up soon after Buffy left, and we were happy to see Willow awake as well. It seemed that Amy's potion worked since Cordy and I slipped some of it in her when the nurses were too busy to watch us.

"I am doing the spell Xander." Willow spoke with determined face.

"I don't know Willow. You were injured recently. Are you sure you can handle it?" I asked. I was worried about my best bud.

She put her resolve face on. "You know me when I am like this Xander. I won't change my mind and you know it."

Cordelia's cell ringed and she answered. "Yeah? You sure? Ok, I will tell the others."

She turned it off and faced us. "Guys, Amy found Giles. He is at the Crawford Street, in that old mansion."

I knew the place. It was in the old part of the town where old big mansions were. Old rich families used to live there but they left soon after LA became far more attractive. Personally, I think they knew that their life expectancy would be longer out of Sunnydale.

I decided to help Buffy. There was no way she could save Giles and the world alone.

Cordelia hugged me fearfully. "Be careful Xander. Promise me that."

I smiled. "Don't you worry? I'll be back before you even notice I was gone. Believe it."

Ugh, again I imitated that blonde jinchuuriki, Nato or something like that. Ah, yes Naruto was his name. Poor bastard.

I took the short route through town to the Crawford Street. Buffy was already there scouting the mansion. She heard me come.

"Any good news?"

"Willow and Oz are fine. Wills will try the spell; you know how stubborn she is." I answered.

Buffy smiled a little. "Yes, I know. Can she do it?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. She was hit on the head pretty badly. Maybe."

"So, you are telling me not to count on her."

"I'm sorry Buff. That's the way I see it. You know what's at stake here. We can't go in hoping for miracles. It's up to you and me."

Buffy got serious. "Yeah, you are right. I have been hesitating for too long and it had come to this. All right. You go and save Giles, I don't believe he is too well guarded. I will deal with Angelus and Acathla."

I saluted to her. "Yes Captain Buffy."

Jokes aside, this was it. Do or die.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

We were sneaking around the mansion trying to find the best way in. It was big. The place was made of the stone and the windows were all either too small or barricaded by wood boards. A perfect place for the vampire nest. It could hardly get burned and there was plenty of room for all of them.

"Hey Buffy, I was wondering how are we going to stop the ritual if Angelus starts it?" I whispered to her. Buffy caressed her sword handle.

"His blood is the key someone told me. It can open the vortex and it can be used to seal iz again."

"Nice to know that. I hope it does not need to be used anyway."

Buffy nodded. "I hope too. Look, this is the best way in."

I followed her gaze. She was right; there were only two vamps skulking in the shadows fearing the sunlight. Buffy shot forward like an arrow and her flying stake dusted the first vamp. He never saw it come.

The other tried to stop her. She batted his sloppy swing away, like she was dealing with a drunk. Her low kick shattered his knee and he was dust a millisecond later. I liked it. She was quick, efficient and silent.

I entered after her. It was a big place. We had to separate-I went upstairs to look for Giles while she continued downstairs to find Angelus before he awakens Acathla.

I went in the first room on the upper floor. It was fitted with expensive rugs and tapestries, and there was a king sized bed. There was also a dead guy on it. His mouth were twisted by the scream no one ever heard.

She came, pale and blonde. Her naked body was lithe with small but firm breasts. Angelus obviously liked girls like Buffy. She giggled drunkenly at me and danced across the room.

"Hi, hi, hi. The food delivers itself now!"

"Trust me, I am the essence of the bad taste." I answered.

Her face morphed in the visage of fangs and red demonic eyes. The ridges were almost non existent, that meant she was freshly turned. She lunged at me and I dodged her grabbing motion. She tried again and I let her pass behind me; I just added to her momentum by elbowing her in the back. She stumbled and almost smashed in the wall. My hit was stronger than that of the average human.

She rushed at me again, but my body was now filled with chakra. I dodged her swipes. This one was really clueless about fighting; I could predict her moves even without the Sharingan.

Finally she made a misstep. I kicked out catching her left knee; she stayed still for a moment her hands splayed wide to keep her balanced. I staked her and her face was back into the human guise. She looked lost and then she was dust.

The guy was not much older than me. I wasn't able to tell if he was turned, so I chose not to risk it anyway. I pulled out my wakizashi and performed the gruesome task of beheading the corpse. I hate beheadings. It is so wrong to see the body without it's head. Same was with the reversed situations.

I left the room and saw three vamps heading my way. They probably heard my fight with the girl. I saw it was not a wide passage they were going through; nor it was high.

Perfect. I made necessary seals and blew the biggest grand fireball I could manage. The attack filled the passage completely; the flames licked the ceiling and the walls. The vampires could not dodge and were fried instantly.

I took the same passage and checked other rooms. They were empty save for few unlucky corpses. I realized this was the feeding ground and maybe the sleeping quarters. Giles wasn't here. Angelus probably kept him close to himself.

I found another stairway attached to the curving wall and at it's bottom were two more vampires. They were rushing up to see what was happening. I drank the holy water and made more seals. The water spewed forth from my mouth in none wave that splashed both of them.

They hissed and howled in pain as the smoke begun to rise from their skin. Talk about acid shower, yeah. I staked both of them with little trouble, they were too distracted by their smoking eyeballs.

I paused when I reached the ground floor. I felt it was too easy so far. There had to be more of them. I glanced at the dark passage below the upper floor, parallel to it. If I were right, they would be waiting in the dark. I set three more bottles on the floor and created three water clones.

They understood the plan immediately. They went through the dark passage and I waited.

Not long after they went in I heard screams of pain. I smiled to myself. Those bastards must have felt immense agony as the holy water burned their mouths, throats and hearts.

Food burn can be a bitch.

I walked carefully inside and saw the puddles of water near the same number of dust piles.

Those stupid vamps must have jumped my clones straight on the necks. It was their usual modus operandi and I used it against them.

I found Giles in the wide area, like a small courtyard in the house. Various potted plants stood next to the walls. A few chairs here and there. Giles was bloody and bruised. Angelus must have had his fun with him. Half of his face was fine, the other was a blue red mess. It reminded me of that Two-Face bad guy from Batman. He was firmly attached to his chair with sturdy ropes that seemed excessive in lieu of Giles's condition.

Something in his look warned me. The punch meant to take my head off missed and I danced away from my spot. The vampire looked ordinary. It disturbed me how calm he was; his half smile promised death.

I begun to asses my option. Running was not possible; this guy could outrun me. But I couldn't leave Giles here either. Because of him I could not use my fire jutsus. Actually, I doubted any jutsu would work-this guy looked like he knew how to fight. I was in trouble.

I forgot the clone jutsus too, this dude would be able to tell the difference between me and them. His nose alone would help at it. It had to be hand to hand.

He came at me first, slowly testing my skills. His street style of boxing and mixed karate moves was pretty good. I had enough of chakra to keep up for the moment. I knew then that he was old. No young vampire would be able to hide his true face in this situation.

I slapped his flashing kick away trying to imbalance him, but he he was too agile. He reversed his leg in back kick to catch me by surprise. It was a smooth fast move.

I saw it come and leaned away letting his foot flash next to my temple. I rushed him then and punched his face. He stumbled and I kicked his leg trying to drop him on the ground but he took the kick and merely danced away to recover. I had his back in sights for a second, but not long enough to stab his heart.

I went at him with fast jab to the head but he dodged and grabbed my arm in steel grip. He twisted and I went with his move to avoid having a broken arm. Luckily I reinforced myself with chakra, so when I was slammed in the wall I didn't loose consciousness. He readied his fist and was about to smash my face to a bloody pulp.

His grip was strong. I noticed those chairs around again and reacted almost instinctively. It was Itachi's training that took over in that stressful moment. His fist struck the chair I replaced myself with. God, I love the replacement technique and was very happy to have practiced with it.

"I don't know how you did that human. But I will kill you." The vampire growled and finally his face shifted in his demonic visage.

I decided to stop holding back too. My Sharingan flared to life, my eyes went red and he paused. "You are welcome to try buddy. I killed the worse guys than you."

My words spurred him into action again. He kicked and punched in blurry motions and I had to use all my skill to stay unharmed. My eyes slowed his moves and I was able to guess where he would attack so I was okay for the moment. I did miss a few hits and they hurt. I gave as good as I got, but he healed almost instantly. I did not and that was my problem.

He knew I was getting tired and hurt. In the next few minutes of slow punch and block exchange my face gained several ugly bruises. Even those moves that didn't connect properly hurt me because they had the demonic strength behind them.

I had to do something. I pulled my water gun and he rushed me. His body plowed brutally into me and only my instinct saved me. I managed to roll with it and flip him in the air. He twisted there and landed like a cat.

I charged myself with more chakra and rushed him. We clashed again and the Uchiha clan's Intercepting Fist served me well. My forearms hurt from blocking his powerful blows, but most of them I redirected and then counterattacked. We were now in full battle frenzy and I didn't even feel his hits as I should have. My adrenaline was too high.

And somehow it came. My vision became clearer, his moves slower by the fraction of the second. It was like seeing the puzzle being assembled and you could recognize the picture.

Every move, his posture and even facial tics betrayed his intent. Each scene was analyzed in milliseconds. One hand that high, his feet so far apart, the tightening of his calves. His body posture and the way his neck was craned. All that was noticed at once and rearranged in my mind to reveal what he would do.

His shoulder twitched and I stepped aside. The entire move was a decoy to make me think he was going to punch me. But his posture, his legs shifting slightly and his stomach tensing betrayed he was going for the kick.

It wasn't that I saw an imaginary leg coming at me before it happened. It was just that my eyes caught the whole set of telling signs. Anyone could have done it if the had the right eyes. I did.

It was a fast kick aimed at my lower abdominal section, usually the weakest group of muscles . I sidestepped and grabbed his leg. When I pulled it high towards my shoulder he did the best thing at the moment. He jumped high using me as the leverage to kick me with his other foot.

I pushed his leg upwards sending him into a spin. He went with it and landed backwards on his arms. His super strength served him well; he landed with ease and held himself steady, but just for the moment.

I saw him twitch into back jump. I just knew where he would land and in what posture.

My hand whipped the stake in one smooth move and let it fly. I could not miss. He landed lightly and was unable to stop the stake from piercing his heart.

When the dust settled on the ground I deactivated my fully evolved dojutsu and the world returned to normal. I went to free G-man immediately.

"You okay ?" I asked as I was helping him to rise. He grunted in pain and begun walking with me.

"What took you so bloody long?" Giles growled. "Angelus was going to use the chainsaw on me."

"Sorry G-man, but we had some trouble with the Sunnydale's finest. Mrs. S took care of them. Does Angelus know how to open the vortex?"

"Bloody sod, he does. He forced some poor witch to bewitch me to tell him the way. Poor girl, he killed her."

I remembered that freshly risen blonde. It must have been her. Angelus was surely a crafty bastard.

Giles snorted. "He tried to beat the truth out of me at first, but later he just had to have his fun with me. Then he chose to let me live so I could enjoy the hell so much better."

There was a hum in the air and I knew we were in trouble. I set Giles on the floor and used a couple of explosive tags to open the way out of the mansion. The blast made a way and I pulled him out in the safety of the sun. No vamp could get to him out there.

I rushed back inside and went to the place the sound emanated from. It was just as I feared. The vortex was being formed and Angel was battling Buffy with sword. They moved too fast for me to help, I could not risk hurting Buffy.

Then it happened. She stabbed Angelus in the arm and he roared defiantly grabbing the blade and twisted it out of her grasp. He threw the bloody sword behind and started to herd her in the corner.

I remembered Buffy's words. His blood would close the vortex. It was on the sword I watched on the floor. But Buffy was at his mercy and he would have none.

How do you choose between helping your friend or saving the world? I was in agony for my body moved on it's own. It knew the truth before my heart and mind were able to accept it.

I lifted the sword and watched Buffy sitting in the corner, alone and defenseless. I moved. I roared in rage as the blade spun across the chamber and struck the center of the small yellow vortex in front of the statue.

The blade vibrated with the power as it stood embedded in the demon's statue. The vortex flashed, the power arced around the blade making the bolts of lightning along it's length.

Angelus swung down and the whole world froze around me. I was shocked and rooted to my position.

"Strange, isn't it?" I heard someone say and whirled around. He was dressed in the black business suit that looked really expensive.

"Hans Gruber?" I asked in surprised fashion. "Who the fuck are you?" I knew the guy wasn't the villain from the first Die Hard movie. But it was the same face except for the beard.

The guy sighed. "Oh why you mortals always assume the obvious? Of course I am not the movie character, nor the actor who portrayed him."

I wasn't cowed. "So why do you look like him then?"

He sniffed. "Wrong again. You should ask why does he look like me. And to answer that I will tell you this. There are always people born with faces that resemble the faces of superior beings like myself. Consider it a joke or blessing of the Almighty. Personally I think it is a joke. And a warning to stay humble."

"Do I look like I care?" I asked. "Who are you?"

The man smiled. "You sound like a Vorlon, you know."

I shuddered. This was a being who liked to watch Babylon Five?!

He smiled. "I never said I liked the show. It's real you know."

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"The Babylon Five reality of course. Actually let's change the locale of our conversation." He flicked his fingers and everything blurred. It was like the mansion was swept from below my feet and another room slid in behind.

I found myself in the chair at the small table. I looked around in shocked silence. We were at the bar. Bright paneled lights, smooth gray brown and blue walls. The table looked ordinary, with small candle on it and a menu. But I watched people. There were normal people. And aliens! I recognized the few of them-a pair of Narns, some Centauri and Minbari.

I drew my eyes forcibly to my companion who ordered drinks for us. I shot my whiskey in one gulp and he smiled. I watched the glass. It was filled again by itself. I took another, just to calm myself.

"There, we can talk now in private. It will take time for some nosy beings to track us."

I looked at his earnest expression. The power he displayed was out of my experience.

"Please, who are you? What are you?" I asked.

"I am Metatron, the Voice of God. And I want you to listen to me." He explained in calm matter of fact tone.

I frowned momentarily. Yes, I read up on the angelic lore. How could I not when I knew that demons were real. There was much mumbo jumbo on them, but I knew that only one angel, an Archangel of the highest order, was called the Voice of God. He was the one who talked in his name. He was the guy who told that prophet to christen Jesus. And other stuff too.

I used the Sharingan to check for illusions, but there were none. He smirked condescendingly.

"Those eyes of yours won't work on me kid. I am way above your league."

He was right. I couldn't see anything else but what I saw without the Sharingan so I turned it off.

"Smart move Alexander." Metaron said. "Now, I want you to listen carefully. I chose that exact moment to appear because the mystical backlash of the vortex being closed allowed me to slip in unnoticed. I took us here to keep our conversation secret."

"Why such secrecy? You are so above everything else I doubt that anyone could stop you." I questioned him. My fear was replaced with curiosity.

He laughed slightly. "I like your attitude kid. I see why He let you be."

I felt a shiver go down my back. "Would you care to explain that?"

He nodded. "That is why I am here. You see, you were not supposed to become as you are now. All those abilities were unexpected. Janus truly outdid himself with you. The Powers That Be who govern your realm wanted to erase you. The Boss said no to that."

"Why?" I asked. "Not that I am ungrateful."

" He has one rule that is unbreakable Alexander. Free will. You chose that costume and that was it. If you wore something else, well you would be different. Maybe better, maybe worse. But it was your choice and no one is allowed to mess with it."

"So why would these Powers be against me?"

"They have their duty to maintain the balance of power in the world you live in. Bloody idiots simply can't stand anything that does not fit in their plans. They are not above subtle manipulation to nudge certain people in their service. Even demons work for them."

"Like Angel?"

" poor bastard was so easy. They let him wallow in guilt for century and then someone comes along and tells him he can redeem himself. They show him a pretty girl and he is hooked on for life. Or unlife, whatever." Metatron said smiling.

I scowled. "That would be so typical."

Metatron shrugged. "Their actions always were overlooked as long as they stayed within limits. But your case caused a big consternation upstairs. You split the Slayer line in two, and now in three. You did something no one saw except for the Boss. But he didn't tell anyone beforehand.

" The light side gained another powerful warrior by default, and now the third as well.

"Neither side could protest since you had the right to choose to save Buffy and Kendra. In fact you didn't even have any mystical help. You saved them on your own."

"Sounds just fine to me." I answered his speech.

"Of course. It was a remarkable feat for the mortal being. And you were changed too and gained powers that changed everything but subtly. By saving several lives you changed the chain of events that were preordained millennia ago. Things are different although not so much now. The future is in motion and the Powers were disturbed. The war is for the first time a war, not a game of chess. Yet some things stayed the same. I guess that the universe has a way of protecting itself."

"You guess? I thought you people knew everything."

Metatron shrugged. "It is hardly possible kid. Only the Boss knows everything and he likes to keep us guessing. I have faith in him though. Now, I am sure you've noticed that there were many vampires in the mansion."

"Yeah, I did. Why?"

"It was the Powers who arranged it, to stop you. They were trying to get rid of you in attempt to settle things right. Well, to their vision of the right at least."

"But if I failed, Buffy would have died anyway and Acathla's vortex would have swallowed the world."

"You are wrong. The Powers arranged for the soul curse to work, even if being cast by that arrogant redhead. They gave her a boost of sorts. I mean, she is talented and powerful, but no novice to the arts would have been able to do it."

I knew it! They used Willow to do their job. I did find it strange that she woke up so soon and without any confusion. Even Amy's potion was not so good.

Metatron nodded to me. "Exactly. You did not fit into their plans as you were so they decided to remove you. Even your girlfriend had a certain role to play in the plans of one of them. She was discovered. Naughty, naughty Jasmine. Since they overstepped their authority and endangered the world the Boss is now cleaning the house. Imagine, a few more vampires and the world would have been destroyed."

I shuddered at that. "Is it really so bad that I am like this?" I asked with trepidation.

He shook his head. "Not from my viewpoint kid. What happened to you was a chance event and no one had the right to attack you for it. You chose to use the power in your own way. The Powers did not like it that someone was messing with their plans. They are control freaks. Certain whistler will get his dues."

I had no idea what he was talking about. "Now what?"

Metatron sighed. "There will be no miracles kid. You are going back to the mansion and go on with the life. Just as will your friends. And certain Powers will find themselves in deep shit."

"Can't you save Buffy? Please." I begged.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry kid. She is on her own, as it should be. Remember the rule-no interference from above. She is a good kid and I hope she makes it."

"You really don't know if she dies or not?"

"Nope. I was not allowed to know. Orders from the Boss. You humans make your own fate. For good or bad, it's all up to you."

I sighed sadly and knew he was right. I knew why he chose the setting of the Babylon station. I watched the show and loved the end when Sheridan and Delenn forced the Shadows and the Vorlons to leave them alone to make their own way in the universe. To stop the manipulation of elder races they were willing to risk their very lives. It was the price of free will.

Metatron smiled at me. "You see? That's what it was always about."

I nodded. He flicked his fingers again and I was suddenly back at the mansion and Angelus was about to spear Buffy through. I tried to move, but I knew it was too late.

Buffy stopped the blade with her bare hands. Angelus tried to push but she kicked him away and jumped to her feet and I saw she seemed full of power. She started to bash him around and I laughed. The vortex was gone and the freak was to be dust soon.

But Angelus collapsed on his knees and moaned. He suddenly relaxed and eyed Buffy with confused face. "Buffy what is happening? I was with you and then nothing?"

Buffy held the sword ready and I wanted her to end him. But my sense of justice won and I activated the Sharingan. The soul was back.

"Buffy, he is back to normal again!" I called out to her. "Angelus is gone."

I watched as she hugged him and he cried. He was remembering. I could not look anymore and left them there.

Giles was safe and I took him away. He needed medical help immediately.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

I was bored as hell. It has been two weeks since the school was over. It has been three weeks since we stopped Angelus from destroying the world. It has been ten days since Kendra left to Jamaica after surviving the vampire assault.

Yes, Kendra survived and recovered rather quickly. It was only natural, she was like Buffy. I was sad to see her go after such a short time, but her Watcher demanded politely that she comes back. Giles was at the hospital at that time so I took the call from Zabuto.

"Hello?" I answered on the phone in Giles's office.

"Good evening. Is Mr. Rupert Giles available?" a voice asked. It sounded similar to Giles the way it pronounced words. It had to be a Watcher.

"I'm sorry, he is in the hospital. He gave me a duty to answer the phone in his stead. May I know to whom I speak to?"

He hesitated. "My name is Samuel Zabuto. I am his acquaintance. And you are?"

"Oh, you are Kendra's Watcher! I am Xander Harris, I believe you have been told about me."

I heard his relief. He was glad he could talk freely I think. "Good, I am glad it is someone who is informed of the truth. I am calling to see what is happening. My ward, Kendra, did not call when she was supposed to."

"That is because she was injured. But she is in the hospital and will recover soon."

"I see." Zabuto spoke. "May I know how it happened?"

I swallowed. He may be angry, but he deserved the truth. "It was an ambush Mr. Zabuto. Buffy Summers was investigating a lead on Angelus and he sent his vampires after Giles. He needed some information from him. Many vampires were involved and Kendra could not fight them all. She barely survived, but I gave her the first aid till the ambulance arrived. Right now she is asleep, but the prognosis is good. It may take some tampering with doctors to cover for her recovery, but we are prepared for such a case."

Zabuto breathed deeply, I heard him. "Considering that we are all here and not in the hell dimension, I assume that her sacrifice was not in vain. Angelus was defeated, yes?"

I laughed. "You are right. Acathla is no longer a threat. We won, but it was a close call, as usual."

Zabuto tsked in understanding. "It is so. Mr. Harris I must ask you to send Kendra back as soon as she wakes. It is very important to me to have her with me."

"Mr. Zabuto, I don't think you are aware of the shock her body sustained. She lost a lot of blood. She will need the time to recover fully. Several days at least."

"I must insist on my request Mr. Harris. She is my Slayer and I am responsible for her."

"I agree Mr. Zabuto. That is why you should let her stay longer. The trip back could be dangerous. It would be the best if she were fully recovered. What if she was attacked and could not fight at her best?"

Zabuto stayed silent for a while. "Very well. Your proposal has some merit. I will listen to you. But I also expect Kendra to call as soon as she is awake. I want to hear from her directly. Is that understood?"

"Of course. I will tell Giles that you called. He will be able to talk to you soon."

"Were his injuries severe?" Zabuto asked concerned about his colleague.

"He was tortured by Angelus. But he will recover fully. He has to stay at the hospital to prevent the infection of his wounds."

"Good, good. Tell him he has my best wishes. Goodbye Mr. Harris."

Well, Buffy considered his request idiotic. We all agreed and Giles had to let us do as we wished. When Kendra woke up she was surprised and shocked. And glad to be alive. Buffy managed to beat her into submission and Kendra faked her condition on the phone with her Watcher. Buffy supervised her first "trick the watcher" stint and beamed at her with pride when she pulled it off.

Ten days seemed like a eternity to me now. I was practically alone in Sunnydale. Willow and Amy were gone on the fake trip to England. I told Giles about what those Powers did to wills and he was alarmed. In magic it was dangerous to receive such boosts he explained. Luckily he knew a coven of white witches that lived in Devon, England. He whipped up some mojo to convince Willow's parents and Amy's dad to let them go on a trip with him as their guide and supervisor. It worked.

Buffy left to visit her dad and some relatives on his side. To my deep regret Cordy had to go on a family vacation in some place reserved for the rich only. She could not get out of it.

Oz was the last to go. He went on the tour with his band. They planned to cross several states on their music tour. I envied him, a lot.

And Angel? He literally vanished. I mean he was still in town, only he did not dare to show his face to us. Only Buffster got to see him and only for a short period. I think his decision was right. No one was ready yet to see him. Too many bad memories.

So I stayed in this hell hole and trained. What else was there to do anyway? I did manage to increase my abilities to the level of high genin. That wasn't too much, but enough so far. I killed a vampire or two occasionally, but the demon season was dead. It was like they went in hibernation, just like bears do in the winter season.

I could run now three to four times faster than human average now. I could walk trees for the short periods, it still took much of my chakra to sustain such technique. The water walking was not yet possible.

It seemed that this world was different from Itachi's in the way chakra was expended. It required more power to do the same stuff. That meant I could eventually reach the jounin level, but all the jutsu of that level would be severely draining. The cost of power was much higher here.

Right now I was finished with the patrol and was heading towards Buffy's house. She asked me to keep an eye on her mother. I was glad to do so. Mrs. S usually invited me in and served me a good meal. I never refused good food. My mom isn't the greatest cook in the world.

I perched on the tree and surveyed the area carefully. It was clear. I was surprised to see her kissing a man in the doorway. Heh, she had a boyfirend! Who would suspect? I bet she used her time alone to get some "fun" done.

I watched the guy walk away. He was smiling and sauntering. Boy, he must have had a good time with Buffy's mom. I decided to get a better look at his face. Just in case, you know to find out who he is. The Sharingan was a great tool for memorization.

Shit! The guy wasn't a guy at all. His appearance was an illusion. His skin was red, his eyes yellow and his ears pointed. His hair was pretty much the same. Long, black and shiny. I noticed slight ridges above eyes. His fingers ended with sharp black nails.

He was an incubus I realized. A sex demon. Their kind feeds on sex, on the energy created by it. They fed on the life force instead on blood. I read up on them extensively during the period I was horny and without a girlfriend.

Their methods don't kill. Usually not, but sometimes they do. Nobody knew why. I knew I could not risk it and I sliently crept up behind him and struck in the spot between his shoulders. He was knocked out and I dragged him in the basement of the house.

We made it as a storage place and as an emergency hold for Oz in case he could not get to his own house on time. There were chains strong enough to hold even Buffy. They would do.

He woke up soon and tried to free himself.

I came in his view. "Don't bother buddy. Those are strong enough to hold a Slayer."

"Who are you? Why did you attack Mrs. Summers?" I asked angrily.

He blinked. "I didn't attack her boy. She and I were just having some private business. And I believe you are not privy to it."

I laughed. "Are you stupid? I wonder what will her daughter think, a Slayer of the current generation, when I show her the incubus who drained her mother's life force."

He gaped at me. "I..I am not sure what are you talking about. My name is Henry Johnson. I am not a , what did you call me?"

He was good I had to admit. If it weren't for the Sharingan I'd believe him. I showed him my eyes and he recoiled. "Buddy, these eyes of mine can see your true form. Don't fuck with me. Or I 'll kill you. Actually, I think I am just gonna do it. I don't have the patience to deal with lying demons."

He struggled as I pulled out my wakizashi. When he saw he was helpless he cried out. "Please , don't kill me. I had to do it. My mate is with child and I had to feed the pregnancy. Otherwise it would not end well."

"So, you took the life force of Mrs. S. How much?"

He hesitated. I swung my blade. "Not enough to kill her, I swear. We don't like to kill humans, we prefer them alive. We need them to feed. But in this kind of situation we have to take much more, and permanently-it is the only way to have healthy offspring. I swear I wouldn't do it otherwise." He babbled in fear.

I glared. "Give it back, and I'll let you live."

"I can't. It's not in my nature. I can only take the essence of life, not give it."

"Then you die." I declared.

"Wait, wait! Kid, I didn't kill her. I just took a big part of her. She will live, it happens sometimes."

"What will happen to her?"

"I can't say. It is possible she is going to live for quite long still. That's why we take only once from the single person. In the old days we took the whole life force, but today we split the process between several women or men. That way they don't die. In most cases they get ill and manage to survive thanks to the modern medicine. But sometimes they still die."

I glowered at him. "And that was supposed to make me feel better? Even if she lives she could die later on from some illness? That is not good in my books. I think I will keep you here and let the Slayer dispose of you as she sees fit."

The incubus visibly paled. He was truly afraid of Buffy, even though he never met her.

"Please kid, I just don't know how to fix this. I would return the stolen energy but I am not built that way. I take only, I don't give."

"Then how are you going to feed your mate's pregnancy?" I asked suspicious of his answer.

"My mate will suck it out of me, that's how it works for our females too."

Of course. Both sexes fed in the same way. I felt desperate because I could not see another way out. Mrs. S was attacked while I was not watching. Buffy would never forgive me.

"Xander, what are you doing?" a vioce asked and I jumped in surprise. I was so involved in my brooding that I didn't notice Mrs. S come behind me.

"I…uh, I was having a nice chat with Mr. Johnson." I tried to lie but she didn't buy it.

"Don't lie Alexander. I know you would never attack anyone without good reason. So what is it all about?"

Thank God, Joyce was so confident in my goodness. I think I would be very uncomfortable if she demanded I release her boyfriend. I sighed then turned to the woman I swore to keep safe. "This guy is an incubus Mrs. S."

She looked blank. Of course she didn't know a thing about such stuff.

"He is a sex demon." I explained feeling very embarrassed to speak about it in front of her.

Mrs. S blushed. "Is that so bad?"

I looked away from her. "No, usually it isn't. They feed on the energy of their partners during the act. They take only so much to feed, and change partners to avoid draining one person too much. But sometimes they have to take enough to hurt seriously. Like this one; he took your essence to feed the pregnancy of his mate. He took enough to harm you later on. I don't know what will happen to you."

She looked at the demon and kneeled before him. "Is it true Henry' Did you really hurt me?"

He looked down in shame to my surprise. "I'm sorry. I didn't like it but I had no choice. You were single, alone. No one would have noticed anything strange."

"Is it really irreversible?" Mrs. S asked.

"I don't know anything short of….of course! I was so stupid. There could be a way to restore your essence to full health."

"How?" I asked. I felt very hopeful.

"There is a ritual to bestow some of our qualities upon people who did us a great service. It is rarely used, no wonder I almost forgot it. It might enable you to transfer your energy to Joyce. You have a lot of life energy, I can feel it."

"How would we do that?" I asked.

"It's simple really. The ritual will make you able to use enhanced sexual power to perform one of the obscure healing rites. It's not only us that can use sex magic, even humans can practice it well. As the matter of fact, we taught it to you. I should have remembered it immediately."

I was shocked. "That means I would have to sleep with Mrs. Summers!"

He looked at me in surprise and then smiled. "Ah, yes you people have strange ideas about sex relations. I see no problem there, she is beautiful mature woman. And you are not related. She is not so old you know."

Mrs. S just stood there. "Is there no other way to do it?" She asked finally.

He shrugged. "Well, you could ask someone else. But I would not recommend waiting too long. Sooner we do it, the better for you. Besides this kid has some major life force, I can guarantee the best results if he does it."

I felt an odd flush of pride at being considered the best for something. At least I would be able to fix my mistake.

"I will do it." I spoke fast before I lost my courage.

"But Xander, what about you and Cordelia?" Mrs. S asked. "I can't ask you to risk your relationship and possibly your health."

"I disagree Mrs. S. I promised Buffy to keep you safe and failed. I want a chance to fix it. And I'd rather have you alive and healthy than the relationship with Cordy. I could live without it, but you might not without your health."

***

We were at Henry's in half an hour. It was a small apartment in the hotel. Obviously they did not intend to stay in Sunnydale for too long.

"What is going on Henry?" His mate spoke as she saw us inside the room. God, she was beautiful. Tall, black hair and green eyes, full dark red lips.

"Easy Sayyahn, this young man will receive our blessings. His life energy is very potent and I think he can help us finish your pregnancy." Henry spoke to her in calming tones.

She was protecting her swollen belly with her hands. "How? You know I cannot take from men now."

"That is why we should make him similar to us, you know the rite. It might enable him to transfer his own energies, maybe even to you."

She seemed unconvinced. "I don't know. It has never been done for such purposes. And it has been done only rarely. It will be up to our gods to decide what will be."

With that said they retreated to the other room and I waited in boredom as they prepared the ritual. Henry appeared at the door and called me to enter. There was a circular design inscribed on the floor with the piece of chalk and I could not recognize various etchings and symbols within.

Both of them were nude now and I hesitated. Sayyahn looked at me and nodded to her mate.

"Strip your clothing off, you will not need it for this." Sayyahn told me and I obeyed. Henry was already sitting at the circle's edge and murmuring some weird stuff.

I felt hands on my hips guiding me towards the circle. It was Sayyahn.

"Do not worry young human. My mate is communing with our gods to fulfill our request. Sit across him and be still."

I did as she instructed and waited. Soon his chanting grew loud and powerful, and certain symbols begun to glow purple. Henry slashed with a knife at his left hand and blood welled on the floor.

The blood itself begun glowing and moving across the circle towards me. I forced myself to remain still as it touched my skin and seemingly was absorbed under it. I felt heat crawl up my legs and spread to my whole body slowly.

My breathing slowed as I begun feeling pleasure course through me. My skin, my muscles, it all felt so good. I felt it then in the haze being focused into my penis that grew larger than ever. The torturous pleasure seemed to create an agonizing pressure in my member and I screamed as the semen burst in rivers out of me. My dick wasn't too large, just seven inches. Now it was a nine inch stake ready to work endlessly. Another burst of sperm wracked my body with exquisite pleasure that rendered me breathless.

Sayyahn kneeled next to me and licked it's head clean.

"Now you will learn what is our gift to you."

I took her there on the floor immediately. Her disguise disappeared leaving her slightly different looking but not much. Except for short tail and pointed ears she looked almost the same.

She took both me and her mate at the same time and her skills were insane. She could do things with her pussy that no woman could. Her ass was super tight yet hot and soft. I pounded into her relentlessly for the whole night exploring her every nook and cranny so to speak. I discovered her secret spots by sense alone and made her squeal in delight. Henry helped too. The weirdest thing was that I wasn't bothered by his presence or by the fact I was boinking someone else's woman.

In the morning we were all spent and resting. After a while I had to leave, s

Sayyahn led me to the door and gave me two bracelets, and hugged me.

"As you are now, you will be able to heal that woman Henry told me about. You have to wear them to know when it is necessary to have sex. I think it will take a week or two of regular sex to complete the healing. Good luck."

I left them knowing that they would be gone soon. I don't think they were crazy enough to stay here with the Slayer soon to come back. Despite their willingness to help I still took their hairs to ensure I could find them in case something goes wrong.

I sighed. Now I had to deal with Joyce. It will be weird.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

After being enhanced by those two I felt incredible. I walked directly to Buffy's house to give Joyce her armband. I reached the place and ringed the doorbell.

"Xander, you are back already?" Joyce asked me and let me enter without asking me if I wished to do so. She learned not to invite anyone inside. I was happy to see she was careful.

"Yes I am Mrs. S. Here, take this armband. We will need to wear them when we, you know…do it." I explained. "They will enable the energy transfer between us."

She sat down in the chair and I joined her. "How do we know when I am fixed?"

I sighed. "According to them you will feel the urge to have sex with me as long as you are not okay. Also our finish will feel different too."

Joyce reddened and I fought the urge to run. It was so freaky and embarrassing to talk about such things with her.

"I have to go now Mrs. S. Umm…you will call me when you need me, right?"

Joyce looked away from me. "Xander, to be honest I am not sure I can go through with this. It just doesn't feel right."

I placed my hand on her shoulder in comforting gesture. "I know that you feel that way Mrs. S. I understand. But we can't let you get hurt over this stupid feeling of embarrassment or propriety. I can't let you get hurt. I promised Buffy to keep you safe. I intend to do what is right, not what is convenient."

I left her there alone because I could not stand to argue with her. She was being stubborn and prudish. I felt frustrated that I got her in such a situation at all. I should have been more observant. I was not so I had to do what I had to do.

***

I spent next three days trying out my enhanced body. It felt as if I was twice as powerful as before. I noticed I could last longer using chakra and jutsus. I wasn't sure how much I've improved but it was noticeable. During patrols I fought a few vampires and almost didn't have to use the Sharingan. My enhanced reflexes were good enough to go against them one on one without it, just a little chakra and that was all I needed.

The call came on the third evening, right before I was to go on another patrol. It was Joyce, and she sounded agitated. Her voice sounded rough and her breathing was erratic.

"Xander, please I can't…"

I dropped the phone and hurried to her house. It took me good twenty minutes on foot and I run fast. She let me in as soon as I showed up.

"What's wrong Mrs. S?" I asked in worried tone. I noticed her flushed cheeks and deep breaths. She wore her bathing coat, you know that fluffy thick thing in red color that was so great to wear after bath. Cordy had one nice white I liked to take off of her.

She twitched and looked downwards in embarrassment. "I…I tried to ignore this, I really did. But it just doesn't want to go away."

I understood what she meant. To be simple, she was horny as hell and she needed the release. "It's okay Mrs. S. That's why I am here, to help you get better."

"I know! But it's not okay Xander. I am so much older than you and it's not appropriate for us. And you have a girlfriend you love. How can this be all right?" She cried in frustration.

"It's too late to be angry Mrs. S. I know that it feels wrong, but how can saving your life be wrong? I made a mistake and I will fix it. Think, how would Buffy react if she knew that you could have saved yourself and didn't do it just because of some barely existent moral issue?"

Joyce went silent at my words and I felt she was finally able to accept what must happen.

"She would hit me like a fool I am." Joyce spoke and faced me straight. She approached me and leaned in and our lips met, slowly, softly.

It was weird being kissed by her, but it felt nice and I returned the gesture. Her tongue intercepted mine and they danced around each other. Joyce pressed her body in mine and I automatically reacted by hugging her and caressing her back. We parted after a while and she looked really excited. The spell had her and I was excited as well.

"Call me Joyce Xander." She spoke in that rough voice that carried so much passion and arousal. My dick hardened immediately.

The next bout of kissing was more urgent and rougher, we were losing that thin veneer of civilization that all people wore. I begun kneading her buttocks. They were still firm and plump, just the way I dreamed. Yeah, I did have dreams of banging Joyce before. Who wouldn't?

Then came her smell. It assaulted my sensitive nostrils, I knew she was getting wet between her legs. But now I could smell it all over her body, in her breath and sweat. I realized that my enhancement made me more aware of female body and state. Joyce moaned in pleasure as I caressed her skin and her coat fell, revealing she had only her cotton panties on. Her bra was missing. Her tits were nice and inviting and I used my hands to squeeze and massage those fine mounds.

Her breath hitched when I started to work on her perky nipples, so rosy and seductive. I could not resist. I abandoned her mouth and neck and started to lick her tits. It was great.

Her white breasts were tasty, and I played my tongue over them and then eagerly started to suck them strongly between my lips. I nibbled on her nipples, the sucked th whole tit at once, hard. It drove me nuts to suck her like that, and she was trashing in my arms from pleasure.

Joyce wasn't idle either. Her strong fingers caressed my shoulders and back, and her left hand snaked down between my legs and expertly fished out my cock. She rubbed it slowly and started to drive up it's length from bottom to tip. Her fingers enticed it to it's full length and Joyce smiled. "Oh , my you have something really nice there."

She gasped in pleasure as my hand crawled between her legs and caressed her pussy. I slowly massaged the wet area and played with her outer lips. Joyce squeezed my dick in response and spread her thighs eagerly.

"I need to see you naked Xander, please." She moaned.

I let go of her and took off my clothes quickly. She was now sitting on the couch and I closed in on her with my big erect member swinging slightly. She took it and begun squeezing and pumping. "Look at you, so big and thick. I am going to love fucking you Xander." She spoke passionately. I was too immersed in her hand work to say anything.

I let out a moan when she licked the head and started to suck it slowly. Her head bobbed up and down as her mouth worked like crazy. She sucked and her tongue licked driving me nuts. She was better than Cordy.

My dick occasionally escaped her devil mouth but she would always start sucking it again.

Then she grabbed my ass with her hands and started to suck like mad. It was a torture and a pleasure at once. Her head moved very fast and my balls tightened. She had her hand on them and sensed my climax; she took it all in her mouth as my sperm burst out. I sagged slightly as she eagerly sucked on my dick and drank my load. I felt myself harden again as she licked my cock clean and she even took care of the sperm that dribbled down her chin.

Joyce smiled as she watched my cock harden again. She leaned back on the couch and spread her legs wide. She moved her panties aside and showed me her pinkish pussy.

"Fuck me now Xander, as much as you like."

She did not have to say it again, I was on her in a flash and showing my cock in her hot pussy. I started to pound in her, fast and strong. She caressed my back eagerly and urged me to continue. "Ohhhh, ahhhh, yes…keep it up Xander. You are doing just fine, ohh, fuck me, yeeees!"

I swear I almost came again. I admit I liked it when a woman urges me to screw her, Cordelia was good at it too. I was surprised that Joyce was the same.

Joyce started to move her hips slightly in circular fashion to increase the friction between us. My pleasure increased as I penetrated in her hole. She even controlled her pussy to squeeze my cock better, her lovemaking skills were great.

As the minutes passed I realized why she hurried to suck me off first. I was still hard and not ready to come again. Yet I sensed her first climax after twenty minutes, and another twenty passed and we still fucked like bunnies.

I sensed her body now and adjusted my motions; what a strange sensation it was. It was like more than my cock was in her, it was as if I had sort of feelers in her body able to sense her needs as if they were mine, yet not.

She sighed and moaned and I followed my instinct and started to fuck her hard and I pressed in her to make our pelvises rub each other and she eagerly responded by encircling my waist with her legs and squeezing my ass and pulling it to herself.

I felt her flutter and I sensed that she was to come again. I started to fuck even faster and she spread herself more to allow me a better access. She screamed in pleasure as her orgasm assaulted her in multiple waves and I came too riding on her climax. Our sweat mixed and so did our sex juices, sloppily and wetly at our front and between our thighs.

I felt a strange drain and I collapsed on top of Joyce, a strange mental fog enveloped me. I don't now how long I was out of it, but it was pleasant and numbing sensation. Like being drugged I guess.

When I awoke, it was like being awakened from a long and pleasant slumber. My body would not move and I was next to Joyce who seemed in the same blissful relaxed state.

When my eyes refocused, she was smiling. She kissed me and caressed my hip and squeezed my ass fondly.

"Wow, this was fantastic. Half an hour orgasm, I didn't expect that." She commented. She sounded like an eager girl too.

My brain went on line. "The spell must have worked. You look like you are on sugar high Mrs. S."

She smiled and pecked me on the nose. "I feel great. And call me Joyce."

I grinned. "Sorry, it's a habit."

She grinned back. "I'll forgive you if you are able to go again." My eyes widened as her hand sneaked down between my legs and started to work on my member. I leaned into her and grabbed her tits. "I think I will manage."

***

Three weeks later I was lying in the bed with Joyce. We slept together almost every other night, normally in her bed. She could hardly sleep in my bed, I don't think my parents would have agreed to it.

We 've spent most of the previous evening having sex. Right now she was sleeping. I wasn't so tired, my stamina was greater then ever. I watched nude Joyce as she slept and sighed. She was still pretty, despite being forty.

I was thinking about Cordelia. I missed her badly. I mean, I liked sleeping with Joyce. She was experienced and very eager to please. She even asked me to do her ass too, which was a miracle for me. She even promised to talk with Cordy about it, as a favor to me. I almost cried when I heard it.

I noticed her breathing, it changed. She was awake, yet would not look at me.

"Good morning." I said.

Joyce turned around and let me see her face. And tits too. I liked her tits. "You don't miss much, don't you?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Can't be helped Joyce. Why were you pretending to be asleep?"

She sighed. "I hate goodbyes. I hate being left alone. And I wanted to avoid our goodbye. I felt it would be too awkward for us."

"Why?"

"You know it Xander. There is no need for us to pretend. I stopped needing this a few days ago. Please forgive me for deceiving you that I needed you still."

"Ah, that. I wondered why our orgasms felt less intense lately."

She raised her eyebrows. "Is that all you have to say? I admitted to using you without cause and you just say that?"

I shrugged again. " What do you want me to say? That I am mad at you? That I hate you?"

She sighed. "I would have preferred it. I'm sorry, I just find it hard to let go of us, of this. You have no idea how much I missed having a lover. Ever since my husband left, I had no one. You made me feel young and desirable. I desired you, I really do even now. I want you to keep coming to me. It's a horrible thing, but I can't deny it. I hate you for it as well. Do you understand me?"

I nodded. "I think so. I know you are older than me, more mature and complex. I don't feel angry at you. I feel angry with myself, for letting this happen. I miss my girl and I feel guilty for cheating on her. I feel ashamed for thinking of myself, when you also have your own needs and problems. I just don't know how to respond. I do know I cannot fulfill your needs. I like you very much, I loved being with you."

"But you love Cordelia, don't you?" Joyce asked. I nodded mutely. She leaned closer to me and placed her palm on my cheek. "You see Xander, this is why I tried to avoid sleeping with you. As an adult it was my obligation to avoid such situations. I am so much older, and yet even I fell in this stupid trap of feelings I shouldn't have. And I feel it so hard, this selfish desire to keep you with me. I felt things you are not yet ready to feel, not for some time. That is why adults can't be with younger people, we don't have the same depth of emotional involvement. You don't feel the same way like I do, I know it. Yet I find myself picturing you as if you do. Do you know what that means?"

"I don't, not really. I think you want me to respond to you on the same level, to love you as a man who wants to be with you always? To marry you?"

Joyce nodded. "You see? Even after saying it, you don't really believe it-because you can't even imagine such strong connection with me. I am ashamed to admit, I can. It's embarrassing you know, there was one day when I found myself thinking about coming back from work and making us a dinner. Then we would sleep together. I used to think like that when I was married you know. I placed such role on you, to fulfill my need for a husband, for a lover."

I remained silent. I realized she was right, we were not equally involved in this relationship. I could not be what she wanted, I wasn't even remotely capable or willing. To be honest I wanted to run away from such responsibility. I was seventeen, almost eighteen. There was no way I was mature enough to assume such roles. I could barely handle my relationship with Cordy. It was simple with her, most of the time because we didn't have such big expectations. I was comfortable with being her boyfriend.

Joyce must have read my face because she smiled and rose from the bed. I felt distant stirring in my loins at her appearance. She dressed up and looked at me. "Come on Xander, we'll have a nice breakfast downstairs."

I followed her down and she made us eggs, bacon some juice and pancakes. As we ate she observed me with amused expression. "You sure can eat a lot Xander. Do you like my food?"

I grinned. "I need the energy Joyce. And you do know I love your cooking. You're the best."

She laughed happily. "I appreciate your gratitude." Joyce got serious again. "I guess this is our last time together Xander, like this. Tell me, will you be able to come here and behave as if nothing happened between us?"

I looked at her. "I don't know. I think I will have to, or Buffy is going to tear my arms off and beat me to the death with them. And I wouldn't be able to look at Cordy again. I really don't want her to find out."

Joyce drank her juice slowly. "Wouldn't she understand the reason for it? That you were helping me."

"I don't know. I think she would accept it, but she would never trust me again. I really love her Joyce. I don't want to lose her."

Joyce nodded. "I understand that. That is why we will keep quiet about this and behave as if nothing happened. In time, I think we will be all right. I just want you t know that I am so grateful for your companionship. I felt so lonely lately, but you helped me get over it a little."

I felt an urge to go find Hank Summers and bash his face in. That son of a bitch hurt her, he cheated on her and left her alone with troubled daughter. He cast her aside as an old rag. That's why Joyce was so vulnerable and clingy. In a way, Buffy was the same I realized. Only Joyce was grown up and had a better handle on her behavior.

So I kissed Joyce deeply and smiled as we separated. "You know, I will always be there for you Mrs. S. For you and for Buffy. You can count on me."

She jumped up and hugged me. "Thank you Xander. I appreciate your concern. Please go now, before I start crying. I hate being so emotional."

I did as she asked and walked away in the morning sunlight that was streaming from the sky. I swore to stand by her and all my friends. No matter the cost.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

The gang was back in the 'Dale one week before the new school year. We met at Buffy's place to have a celebratory barbecue lunch. It was Giles who could roast meat to our surprise, so it was his idea in the first place.

The table was filled with delicious steaks, chicken and burgers. There were salads, potatoes, fries and all the other edible delicacies. I was in heaven.

Everyone was there. Willow and Amy obviously bonded on their visit to England. To my horror Metatron was right about the soul spell- as Giles angrily told us there was a dark influence upon my Willow. The taint was small, very subtly hidden in Willows magic. It gave her a decent boost in power, but it was also corrupting in nature. Giles got a major ass chewing by the coven over there for allowing such young witch to perform on the Hellmouth unsupervised and unprotected.

But it was discovered in time. Willow got the serious talk of the possible consequences of her actions and it scared her. She learned the important basics of the witchcraft to help her to stay on the right path. Amy too was touched by the dark, but not so much since she wasn't the center of the soul curse. Also she had some resistance since she was born to being a witch.

Oz returned a week ago from his tour with the Dingoes. He was supposed to go to the college , but he flunked a couple of classes on purpose so he could stay with Wills. I think she worshiped him for that since she was such a perfectionist in school. To her such action would be unthinkable.

Cordelia was in the Europe with her folks. But she returned only with her dad. They left her slutty mother with her lawyer slash lover with whom she was planning to steal a shitload of money from Cordy's dad and run to Rio to live happily ever after. He was stealing the money meant to be paid as taxes, by withholding it and transferring to the unknown account or accounts. Unfortunately for them, Cordelia was a light sleeper and she slept more during the day than during the night-it was the consequence of being a Scooby. We were more active at night. She couldn't sleep one night and saw them doing the nasty and talking about their plans. Bye-bye mommy!

Buffy was happy and full of energy after visiting her various cousins across the States. Joyce let her go alone since Buff could take care of herself easily. She was telling us about her weird meetings in the East. There were two pot smokers called Jay and Silent Bob who were avoided by the local demons.

"C'mon Buffy that's a joke, it must be!" I protested, but she was adamant in her claims.

"I swear to my Mr. Gordo Xan. The local Shu'grll pack was even having their pictures in their nests as the sign of their fealty to those stoners. I heard they were planning to obtain the pot for them."

For your info, Shu'grll are nasty little buggers who liked to eat rotten meat like alligators do. They roam sewers and are gray in color. They like to grab a human or two occasionally, but only to prove to other demons that they are tough and mean. So they are mostly harmless, as much as any demon can be. Vampires leave them alone in order to avoid trouble in their underground highways.

"Okay, I can buy that, but not the other demons. A vampire will eat any man." I countered. She shrugged. "I saw them use golf clubs to fend off the vampire attack, supposedly they are blessed. Bob said he killed a Golgothan demon once."

"A Golgothan?!" Giles said loudly. "Are you sure? I thought they were very dangerous even for Slayers!"

"He said he used a cleaning spray. You know, the air freshener stuff." Buffy said.

Giles paused. "I suppose it could work that way. I have to report it later."

"I'm afraid to ask, but what's a Golgothan demon?" Oz said.

Giles made a face. "They are in short shit demons. Their bodies are made of feces and urine, and they are strong and have no viable killing spots since they are piles of animated feces. Luckily they are extremely rare. Disgusting is the nicest word said about them."

"Can I say-EWWW!" Cordy commented and we all agreed with her.

Buffy wasn't finished with her story. " Well, the other two guys I met were much better. They were at the airport. Weird thing was they knew what I was on the first sight! I mean theY freaked out like fangirls who met their favorite boy band stars. I had to give them my autograph and Loki wanted my phone number."

"Loki?" Cordelia asked. "Was he cute?"

"Sorta, I liked Bartleby better though. He was taller, more eloquent." Buffy answered.

"Why did he want your number?" Joyce asked with concern.

"Oh, he wanted to hear my stories about the Hellmouth. They weren't able to leave Wisconsin so they needed me. I think they were bored a lot."

That's when something bloomed in my head, a presence that overlapped mine in second. I was there, I saw and heard everything but I wasn't in the driver's seat so to speak.

"THEY ARE BEING PUNISHED BY THE LORD HIMSELF." The voice said from my mouth. It was full of power and everyone was freaking out.

"Sorry guys I don't know what's going on." I said in my normal voice. Buffy squinted at me suspiciously. "Then who did speak with your mouth? Are you possessed again?"

The presence got me again. "I AM METATRON LITTLE SLAYER. I AM THE VOICE OF GOD. NO ONE IS TO INTERFERE WITH LOKI AND BARTLEBY."

Buffy wasn't impressed. "I'm sorry I never heard of you. Are you French or something?"

Giles had a panic attack. "Buffy! He is an Archangel for God's sake! He is literally the voice of God. He is so powerful that it is beyond imagination. You don't go around and piss off archangels."

Buffy wasn't convinced it was so great to meet the guy in my head. "Why would God need a voice angel? And why is he possessing Xander, isn't that too much for him? He was possessed twice already! Won't his head blow up or something?"

I was kind of pleased that Buffy cared for my well being in her roundabout way.

Metatron sighed loudly with my body. "AMERICANS! I AM THE VOICE OF GOD SINCE PEOPLE CAN'T STAND THE POWER OF THE REAL GODS' VOICE. ONLY THE DEAD OR BEINGS FROM OTHER PLANES CAN HEAR HIM DIRECTLY. WE' HAVE LOST SIX ADAMS BEFORE WE REALIZED HUMANS COULD NOT WITHSTAND GOD'S VOICE. WHAT A BUMMER. THAT'S HOW I GOT MY JOB. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

They all stared at me or him, oh whatever! "ANYWAY THOSE TWO ARE BEING PUNISHED BY THE LORD FOR THEY DARED TO GET DRUNK AND SHOW THE FINGER TO HIM AND DISOBEY HIS ORDERS. THEY ARE THE FALLEN AND THEY SHALL STAY SO FOR ETERNITY. WELL, KIND OF. STAY AWAY FROM WISCONSIN AND NEW JERSEY UNTIL 2001. THAT'S AN ORDER STRAIGHT FROM THE BOSS HIMSELF!"

Giles sputtered and bowed as much as he could. "Of course Lord Metatron it shall be done. Should I inform the Watchers of this?"

"DO NOT GILES. THEY ARE NOT INVOLVED. BY THE WAY JENNY CALENDAR SAYS YOU SHOULD GET A LIFE, HE,HE,HE…"

"Wh-what? She is, I mean she went to…"

"YES; YES SHE SINGS WITH US. I'M GOING NOW AND DON?'T WORRY ABOUT THIS YOUNG MAN. MY PRESENCE WILL NOT HARM HIM."

But as he was leaving he spoke to me. "BY THE WAY HARRIS, JESSE SAYS YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO ANSWER TO HIM FOR GETTING MISS CHASE. AND I CAN SAY ONLY THIS-GOOD WORK WITH JOYCE, SHE IS ONE REAL GOOD LOOKING MILF! AND GOD FORGIVES YOU FOR CHEATING ON MISS CHASE WITH HER SINCE YOU DID IT FOR THE RIGHT REASON, BUT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND YOU DO IT AGAIN UNLESS YOU BREAK UP WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND. BOSS DOESN'T LIKE CHEATERS. HE SAYS ALSO YOU SHOULD NOT BE STUPID AND TELL MISS CHASE WHAT YOU DID."

I shuddered as his presence left me. Only then I understood how strong and pure he was. I felt like I was thrown in the dark cell after being too long in the sun.

"Xander are you all right?" Cordelia asked as she held my hand in fearfull grip. I patted her in calming gesture. "I am all right, just shaken up a little."

Giles drowned his wine in one go. "I don't have to tell you people not to ever mention this event again, do I?"

That was it for the lunch, the supernatural visitation put a dampener on our festive mood. But Buffy looked at me and smiled like a cat who saw a mice. "Giles said you trained a lot during these weeks. Care to show me the results?"

We moved in the backyard to have our little match since we wanted to avoid undue attention. The rest of the gang watched from distance as we stretched. Buffy was about to increase her weight as usual when she fought me. I stopped her.

"Not this time Buffy, I'm much better now. Let's see how much. Please."

She nodded. "Okay, but I warn you, I trained too."

I grinned. She returned the gesture.

Buffy assumed her regular stance. It was derived from Tae Kwan Do and it meant she stood almost fully sideways, one leg in front of the other. The arms were relaxed but in high position to block or punch. Nothing really special or fancy, but very versatile. She could either kick or punch, or hop around dodging and blocking.

I took a casual stance, almost like a boxer. Chakra flowed through me and my senses sharpened . I went first with two short fast jabs of my left hand. Buffy dodged with ease and moved in to hit me back. I blocked and retreated.

We circled trying to gauge the best way to get through each others defenses. Buffy was confident and relaxed. She was stronger than me. Faster too. More experienced. Hell, she was simply better.

But I was getting better too. And I was more skilled. My skills were artificial but substantial in the field of killing and martial arts. And I was growing into them quickly.

Buffy went with kicks, low then high. I blocked those, but she tried for my head suddenly and I barely evaded that. Her foot blurred to my midsection and I had to jump away. I didn't try to attack because I feared she would grab me and then throw me down hard.

I powered up and started to fight harder. She winced at my blow and realized I was getting serious so she stopped holding back. Her fists blurred, and I slipped past her completely and tried to elbow her in the back. She somersaulted over me backwards only to receive my powered fist in the chest that threw her away. She remained standing though.

Buffy rubbed the spot I hit. "Nice Xander, let's get it up a notch." I knew she wasn't hurt badly, it takes a lot to injure a Slayer. Even then they bounce back quickly.

She now moved as fast as some older vamps I saw. I was now in trouble, her moves were much faster and stronger. Her hands and legs didn't blur anymore. Blurry motion is still traceable you know. But the real speed was when you missed it, it looked like person you watched just skipped a part of the motion. It looked slow , but it was just an illusion since you didn't see it all.

I activated my Sharingan and she was moving much slower, I could actually block her moves and attack back. We went like that for a minute, neither truly trying to score. I think Buffy just enjoyed that she could let go of her restraint and exercise her muscles.

I on the other hand was doing my best to keep up. Believe me, I was sweating like a pig.

She was grinning and kept on, her stamina was greater than mine. I leapt back to buy some time. She waited.

I focused hard and shifted the flow of chakra in my body. I felt it then, a flood of power that I was holding from being overspilled. I moved. Buffy was barely able to block my punch, but my leg sweep caught her. She stumbled and I punched. She was lifted of her feet and was barely able to regain her balance five feet away.

"You're it Buffy." I said with grin.

She wiped the blood from her lip. "How did you do that? You suddenly moved so fast."

"I forced my body to produce more energy by opening one of the eight chakra gates. They act as limiters to the body. They can be shut down for short periods. In turn it allows body to work at higher levels of power. It's like having a voluntary adrenaline boost."

"It's like overclocking the CPU or boosting the car engine." Oz added.

"Yes. Just like in those examples this technique can damage the body. That's why it takes real expertise to use it. The user must train his body to endure the stress that this trick involves. If you do it wrong you can break your muscles and bones and damage your organs."

"But you obviously know how to do it." Buffy said. "I see you're just fine."

"True. I know how to do it and I plan on teaching you too. This technique does not use chakra, it is used to increase it's level. I believe it can be applied to increase your Slayer energy. In fact, you are practically built for this kind of combat. Your body is stronger, your recuperative powers faster. You will be able to endure more strain than any user of this technique. And your ability to learn new tricks will allow you to learn this in relatively short time." I explained to her.

Giles looked intrigued. "I have heard of the term you used. In India mystics ad yogi masters talk about eight chakra points. They describe them as vital points in the body according to their beliefs."

I nodded to him. "There are eight chakra gates. I just opened the first. Each one increases the power of the user exponentially. But the cost is also increased because your body is forced to operate beyond the normal levels. Only seven gates can be opened, and even that is difficult. The eighth gate is never used because it kills without exception. But that gate gives enormous power boost, you'd be unstoppable for the short time before dying."

"You are so teaching me that. If it made you strong enough to knock me around, can you imagine what could I do?" Buffy said in wonder.

I did imagine. I could not decide whether to smile or shudder.

***

The school started two weeks ago. It was already killing me. Although there were some perks to being the member of the senior class. Poor little freshies moved aside as if we were movie stars. It felt good to be the man on the block. The effect was enhanced by the show of the yesterday.

I was in the quad looking for Cordy. She was with her friends and some big pretty face was harassing her. It was Danny Soames, the newest rising star on the football team.

He was tall, muscular and obviously thought he could get Cordy.

She was her usual polite self. "Get lost moron! I don't date kids. Besides I do have a boyfriend."

Soames wasn't convinced and he grabbed her hand. "That nobody Harris? Don't make jokes Chase, you can do much better than him. You know the age isn't such a big deal. But the size is." He laughed at his little smart aleck and his buddies followed the suit. He had his own pack of adolescent bullies which explained his brazen attitude.

I looked more carefully. I saw Larry close by, and I found other guys of the senior class. So the rumours were true. The team wasn't as united as before, obviously the younger members thought they could ignore the seniority privileges. Larry stared at me hard and I took the hint. I may not like him or his bully buddies, but we were all survivors of the Sunnydale. That had to count for something.

I walked up to Soames and grabbed his wrist hard. I enhanced my grip with some chakra and he let go. "Soames, back off. Cordy said no. Go somewhere else and don't bother my girl again."

Donny just sneered at me. "In your dreams Harris! Go sit with those losers you belong with and let the real man do his work."

I sighed internally. Soames was itching for a fight. I saw Larry grin and lick his lips in anticipation. I decided to try one last time. "Listen Soames you tried and it didn't work. Cordy said no. And you're still here. That looks like you were going to force her to be with you. Are you a rapist or something?"

His face went scarlett. "As if I ever had to force any girl! Since you implied I was a rapist I'll have to ask for an apology."

I had to give him that. He wasn't totally stupid. He didn't attack first but put me in position to either comply or give him a valid reason to jump at me. I saw Larry and his buddies shift. So I smiled nicely to Soames. "I call them as I see them buddy."

Soames lost his cool and swung at me. It was ridiculously easy to dodge and I pushed him back. Someone snickered loudly as he fell on his ass. He flushed in embarrassment and run at me in the classic football tackle. He was pitifully slow and clumsy when compared to vampires. He plowed in the ground again, and more people laughed at him.

He glared at his buddies. "Get him idiots!"

His buddies suddenly found out that they were facing several older and meaner kids. They remained where they were.

Soames got up and approached me in boxing stance. I decided to end this fast. I blocked his punch, grabbed his arm and twisted it hard. He lost his guard and I punched him in the stomach twice, both times I added chakra. He doubled over and fell on his knees. He was totally down and nearly puking.

I kicked him and he fell on his back. I pressed my foot in his chest hard and he lost any will to fight. I stared at him hard and started to speak loudly so everyone could hear me.

"Next time I see you mess with any girl, not just with mine, I'll break your knees. Then we'll see how great player you are. Consider yourself warned."

I walked away with Cordy who was so turned on that she dragged me to the janitor's closet and we had one explosive round of sex. Maybe I should beat up some junior kid again, eh?


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

We were at the Bronze, our local hangout for almost anyone looking for fun and drinks. It was packed as usual with teens and college people who wanted to get away from the campus and it was too troublesome to leave the city.

The Bronze wasn't anything spectacular to receive such visiting but it was the one of the few decent hangouts for young people. It has two floors. The first was separated in several zones-there was space for pool tables and various arcade games, then there was always crowded bar, then drinking tables and dance podium that ended with the raised stage for the performing band-this evening it was the Dingoes Ate My Baby which was the music band Oz was a part of as their guitar player.

The second floor was actually a wide balcony area with many tables and couches for visitors. It was also less lighted to provide some privacy for love couples and whoever else needed it too. Buffy or anyone from our group always tended to scour that level first to ensure that no vamp was there. It was also a good spot to scan the lower level quickly.

Willow was so proud of Oz who got a nice solo done and was applauded to loudly by the crowd. But she was always excited when the Dingoes played. Honestly she was Oz's private and only groupie. He was good though, and Matt Hennesy too-he was their drummer. Devon, Cordelia's ex, was the singer and decent at it, so the band actually had some rep.

"You were so great!" Willow gushed at Oz who moved towards us after the song. It was the break for the band, and Oz always spends it with Wills if he didn't have to practice with his buddies for the next part of performance.

"Thanks Willow," Oz said and kissed her. "But you're just saying that. I know for a fact that I could be better."

Willow pouted. He kissed her on the nose. "Thanks anyway."

Cordy and I were making out until Oz came. Buffy was sitting and sipping her Coke obviously bored to hell. She was idly scanning the crowd. But Cordelia spotted this evening's soon to be first. She was using her pocket mirror to check her makeup and to see if any guest was without reflection.

"Oh come on! This guy is so obvious, doesn't he realize that seventies are so passé!" She exclaimed.

"Who?" I asked.

She pointed in her mirror. "See that little punk slutty girl dancing? He's with her."

I looked at her and saw it. The guy was in the obvious seventies get up-remember those shirts unbuttoned widely, and those pants that were wide at the bottom? This dude obviously thought that no one would notice. Plus he was really pale. And he danced disco style.

We saw him follow the girl out and I didn't blame him. She was dark haired pretty thing with great body, much better looking than most chicks. Buffy got up and I followed. The rest stayed put, they knew we could handle a single vamp easy.

Buffy sped up after we exite the place, the stake was in her hand. We heard the scuffle and hurried again. To our surprise the girl was tossing the vamp around and smacking him like he was a boxing bag. She grabbed Buffy's stake and finshed him.

"Thanks for the stake Buffy." She said with wicked grin and tossed it back to Buffy.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"I'm Faith, the Slayer."

"I am the Slayer." Buffy responded immediately.

Faith nodded still grinning. "Yeah, it's great isn't it? I'm the third in the line. Who's the boy toy?"

I raised my eyebrows. Boy toy?

"He is a friend of mine, he knows about the real world so don't worry." Buffy answered. "But how come you are here? Where is your Watcher?"

Faith shrugged. "Linda is off to some posh Watcher resort she was invited to. I was bored and decided to check this town. And to meet you-you're a legend already, did you know that?"

She eyed me carefully. "How come you've got this guy with you? I was taught this was a secret occupation."

"Xander?" Buffy said laughing softly. "He's a real talent for attracting trouble. He stumbled upon this by accident and I couldn't stop him from helping me. To be honest he saved my ass a couple of times."

"Whatever. Shall we get back in?"

****

Faith was again surprised when she met the rest of our little gang. But she accepted it fairly easy and got to know us a little. We did too, she had some outrageously funny stories. My impression of her was that she liked being the Slayer. She admitted to being scared sometimes but mostly she just loved to do her job, her Calling.

Itachi-me wondered what kind of life she had before being called if this was a step up for her. Let's face it-it was cool to have superpowers, but not so cool if bad guys had them too and they outnumbered you.

Buffy was never so cheerful with her Calling; she was always aware of her odds. Hell, she died already once. That's why I could respect her despite her occasionally stupid reactions and behavior-in the end she was willing to do whatever it takes to win. She grew up I think.

But Faith, she enjoyed telling us her stories and she laughed. But I noticed signs of tension, the way her eyes never stayed still. She was young, fifteen I think. Buffy told me that she was that old when she was called.

I took Buffy to the dance floor. She was surprised but did not resist.

"What's wit the dance Xan? Trying to rile Cordelia up?" She smiled at me.

"No, I just wanted to get out of Faith's hearing range. What do you think of her?"

Buffy frowned. "She seems okay, but something's not right. I never heard of that Watcher place and Giles should have known about Faith by now."

I nodded. "That is right, but I know for a fact it is real place, Giles spoke of it once. It is supposed to be a great honor to be invited there."

"So she was telling the truth. But somehow I doubt it."

I nodded. "Yes, I think our new friend is in trouble. Big trouble. She avoids to mention anything about her Watcher. I find that worrying."

"So, what do we do?"

I had an idea. "Why don't you take her on the short patrol and then to your house? I'm pretty sure she has nowhere to go and local motels aren't really safe."

Buffy hesitated. "You really think it's a good idea? Shouldn't we call Giles?"

"I'll deal with that, you just make sure Faith feels welcomed here. I think she had a bad life, she could use some kindness of her fellow Slayer. Remember how you felt when your folks put you away?"

Buffy dropped her gaze in embarrassment. "Yeah, I see what you mean. You're right."

Buffy took Faith with her as we planned and Willow went home. Oz had another performance. Cordy eyed me curiously.

"What was with the dance and talk act?"

I shrugged. "I just discussed our new friend with Buff. She'll take care of her fellow Slayer."

"Good. Can you pay attention to me now?" Cordelia said and grabbed my shirt stuffing her divine tongue down my throat.

***

Faith came to the library with Buffy. She had a cat's grin as she eyed G-man.

"Wow, if I had known that Watchers can be so yummy looking I would have asked for a transfer a long time ago!"

Giles coughed violently as his tea went down wrong. Buffy made a face.

"Anybody with me when I say 'ewww!'?" Buffy asked rhetorically. Giles recovered his breath. He pulled up the newspaper he was reading.

"I say it's a good thing you are here Faith, Buffy could use some help. This town is big and there is always some evil afoot. On that note, I read that several people went missing in the Sunset district." He handed the newspaper to Buffy who read the article with Faith.

"Okay, we can check it tonight Giles," Buffy said, "but we have to come home earlier. My Mom is eager to have a dinner with me and Faith. She was very surprised when I brought another Slayer last night."

Faith laughed a little. "Your Ma is cool B. But she worries too much."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, that's Mom for you."

Faith was in a good mood. "It was very cool when she offered me a permanent stay as long as I'm in the town, but I'm not sure if I should do it. I don't wanna leech off of you two."

Gles looked at her intently. "I think it would be good if you accepted the offer. As a Watcher I am responsible for you but I don't think it would look good if I took you in. I am an older man and we don't want to attract undue attention."

Buffy looked surprised and Willow sent her a puppy look with her green watery eyes. She succumbed to it . "I won't mind if you stay Faith. I could use some company."

Faith relaxed and grinned. "All right then. And don't worry I'll make sure it's fun and games."

Giles caught the innuendo in the tone she used and I forced down the laughter at his stiff face. Faith was surely a playful girl.

"I do expect you to follow the rules Mrs. Summers sets down, they should be quite acceptable since Buffy doesn't seem to mind them. Most of the time."

Faith nodded. "Sure, you're the boss."

Giles smiled at her. "For now. Go with Buffy and familiarize yourself with this town. I think you will do fine with us."

I could hear Willow chatter with faith about our previous hell mouthy experiences. Ah the memories. Bad memories. I stayed behind with G-man as he asked.

"What's up G-man?" I asked.

He looked worried now. "You were right Xander. I pulled some connections I still have in England. Faith's Watcher was reported dead. Poor woman, she was only thirty. Faith was marked as missing, perhaps dead. And that was two weeks ago."

I was surprised. "And they didn't bother to inform you about that?"

Giles smiled ruefully. "I was told it was not my jurisdiction and that I have my own Slayer to worry about."

"That's bullshit." I retorted. "Travers is still playing his power games, right?"

"It would seem so. Faith came as even worse candidate for the Calling than Buffy. She was described as a troubled child, a 'white trash' I believe the words were. Not that I believe it. Most of us consider any Slayer worthy, no matter who she is or where does she come from."

"White trash? I could be put in that category Giles. I guess Travers and his gang are quite judgmental. I wonder what makes them think they can judge who is worthy of being Called. I believe someone from above might take offense some day." I said angrily.

"Do you jnow something I do not? Has the Voice spoken about it?"Giles asked in worried tone.

I shook my head. "Nah, just my wishful thinking. Still it pisses me off how Travers acts. It makes me want to deny him his pleasure."

Giles grinned. "How odd, I was just thinking the same thing."

"Are you going to talk with Faith about her situation?" I asked.

Giles nodded. "Later and in private. I don't want to embarrass her in front of Buffy."

"Don't try to berate her. Just tell her that you know and sympathize. And that you want her to stay and help us. Don't make a big deal of her running away." I said and Giles chuckled. "Xander relax. I can handle her just fine. Trust me."

I was embarrassed a little and so I ducked my head. "Sorry, I just want everything to end well. I think I will patrol the Wymore district, I wasn't there a while."

"Be careful." Giles said to my back as I was walking away.

***

The Waymore district on the other side of the town from the Sunset district. It was a typical nature zone filled with parks. The biggest had it's own wood area and through it went walkways with few lampposts and benches.

Teenagers always visited this area to have fun at night away from the adult supervision. It was also a good spot for vamps to get a snack or two. But not too often since it would scare the future prey away.

I was running through the shadows and bushes passing by several groups of kids who were having their fun, either by drinking stolen liquor and smoking pot, or by having some form of a social game. The usual stuff.

It took me a while but I discovered a couple of vamps stalking the small group of teens in the bad lighted area. They spotted me immediately because of the wind that shifted suddenly and carried my scent to them. A two pairs of yellow red eyes focused on me and I retreated deeper in the woods.

They moved fast and silent, their forms blurring. I prepared my chakra and my Sharingan flared to life. I could track them easily now since their demonic energy was like a reddish flame burning in the night.

They were a good team. The first went immediately after me, he intended to tackle me to the ground so they could both feed quickly and silently. There was no intent to taunt and draw fear, this was a pure and simple murder. They planned to have fun later with those kids.

Too bad for them since I was not an easy mark. My Sharingan saw how it would go. His jump was high and he was supposed to land on my upper body. I waited till the last second and stepped back. He fell right on the stake that was suddenly in my hand. The other growled and went to kill me but I used the replacement jutsu.

The vampire sensed me a second later, I was five meters to his left and above him on the tree. He grinned showing his fangs at me. And leapt up. Stupid move, really. He should have realized I wasn't normal.

I made a single tora seal and spat a short but powerful jet of flame. He flew right into it and was dust a couple of seconds later. I loved using jutsus, vampires and other demons never suspected that I could use energy attacks. I was just far too rare to be known and this secrecy was my greatest asset.

I patrolled around for a while and crossed over to the local cemetery. I dusted three new risers. Which meant someone was recruiting. Considering Faith's recent arrival it was clear she was followed.

***

Buffy had an interesting story to tell us next morning. It was about Faith's behavior during the patrol in the Sunset District.

"She has serious issues Giles!" Buffy complained, "She was whaling on that single vamp like it was her personal punch bag and I was left alone to deal with the rest. I almost got my self killed while she was torturing that one. When I wanted an explanation she blew me off and we had some words. She didn't come back to my house."

Giles was worried. "Was there anything strange about those vampires? Xander says someone is making new ones."

Buffy paused. "Well, there was this-they didn't run, they rather stayed to be dusted. And one of them was babbling about some khaki or taqui thing. He was like a fanatic."

Giles shot to his private stash of the books and returned. "Here is says that there is this vampire. He is called Kakistos which means 'The Worst of the worst'. He is an ancient master vampire who grew so old his hands became cloves. His feet too."

I grimaced. "Who wants to bet against the chance he is after Faith?"

Nobody wanted to.

***

I followed after Buffy when she went to see Faith who was probably holed up in the motel. It was a bad call on her part since motels weren't place you actually owned so a vampire coud gain entry uninvited.

By the time I reached the motel it was too late. I saw a dead body in the parking yard and it was a vampire victim. Only this vampire was very angry, the body was broken on half. He found Faith too if the broken door and walls were any indicator.

I hurried around and followed meager tracks in the area that led me to the warehouse. Wasn't it convenient how many of those were piled up in this town?

I climbed up the wall and observed from the window. Kakistos was obviously the big ugly dude built like a tank. I was shocked to see he was able to fight with Buff and Faith, but then Buffy changed tactics. She went for his mobility and Faith was getting up with the furious look on her face.

It seemed that Kakistos's flunkies believed he would win or they didn't care if he died. They walked away. I grinned too and moved around towards the entrance. I was pumped and ready. I almost laughed at the big round eyed look of the black vamp in the fancy suit as the Grand Fireball swallowed him and his goons in one go.

I entered the place and saw Buffy dusting herself off. Faith was staring at the pile on the floor.

"I take it this is what was left of the latest evil dude?" I nodded towards the dustpile.

Buffy flipped her head cheerfully. "Yeah, he was big and strong but not so fast on his feet. I was distracting him and Faith speared him with the wooden ceiling beam."

I grimaced. "Wasn't that an overkill Faith?"

She snapped up at my words and then relaxed. "Nope, it wasn't. He was immune to regular stakes."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, I tried too." Buffy said and then turned to Faith. "You were right to come here, no Slayer would have taken this guy alone."

Faith looked relieved. "I don't care, he is gone now. Linda can rest in peace now."

Buffy looked sad. "I know how you feel. I felt the same way when I got the bastard who killed my first Watcher. But Giles is here now and still kicking."

There was a pregnant silence between us. I was surprised to hear Buffy's admission, she wasn't big on sharing about her early slaying days.

Faith grinned suddenly. "You think he'll let me stay? I think I could like to serve under him." Her eyebrows waggled up as she said that and Buffy spluttered in embarrassment.

I laughed. Buffy glared at me.

I placed my arm around Faith's shoulders. "Welcome to the Hellmouth. Are you hungry? I know I am ready to celebrate our latest victory."

Faith nodded eagerly. "Oh yeah I could eat something!"

Buffy always liked to have the last word. "I agree, we can eat and then go home. My mom is worried sick about you Faith-expect to be grounded for your disappearing stunt last night."

Faith looked less happy now.


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

After Kakistos's demise things went better for Faith. She moved in with Buffy and Joyce since Joyce insisted on it vehemently. Giles supported that course of the events since he really didn't want to live with a teen girl alone. He said it was enough that he had to spend most of his days in the school, an American school which was even worse.

On the slaying business front things were looking up. The demon population sensed the shift of power- two Slayers were truly formidable. Where Buffy killed four vampires alone, now Faith added to that and they cleaned up to ten vamps a night. I was getting out of vamps to hunt on my own. There were other nasties in the darkness, but they didn't fare much better than vampires. Still, it was nice to see that our Sunnydale High Obituary suddenly lost more than a half of the usual number of names posted in it.

But there were dark signs that worried us. It seems that there was a serious player in town, some shady figure who was running the Sunnydale death and gore show. Demons called him "The Boss". Not that many were even aware of him, but we were.

The first time we heard that nick was when Buffy and Cordy were kidnapped during the Homecoming dance of 1998. They were competing against each other for the title of the Homecoming Queen. They never got to the ball. They were taken to be hunted by some nasty group of big game hunters-there were demons and humans present. One of them, a vampire, babbled about The Boss arranging for the hunt.

The next and the most recent was the Cursed Candy Incident. And it was a devious and the most ruthless plan I have ever seen so far. The Boss needed to pay the tribute to some big shot demon or demons. The tribute was several small newborns. Yeah, disgusting.

The Boss was aware that parents would never give up their babies or that he would not be able to cover it up.

That's why he hired our dear buddy Ethan Rayne to produce some kind of enspelled candy to make adults crazy. They reverted back to their teen personas. I never thought I'd say that, but Snyder was scary as a teen. Joyce and Giles, well they were your typical smoking and drinking teens. I barely avoided Joyce's advances, luckily Giles distracted her. I think Joyce was a real man eating woman when she was younger.

Any way, Faith and Buffy managed to save those newborns and killed a giant snake demon as a bonus. The Boss was not seen. But I did see Ethan when Buffy caught him in the candy factory. He thought he could escape. But I left the factory and followed him. My water clone in the factory fooled Buffy and no one was aware of my actions.

I caught him in his small apartment. He was just about to leave.

***

"Helo Rayne." I said angrily as he woke up. He was very surprised when he realized he was tied up to the chair.

"Hello young man. Would you please untie me so I could leave?" He tried being cool but I could see he was sweating.

"I'm afraid not. You see, there is a friend of yours who wants to talk with you badly. I think he is just itching to show you how he appreciates your sense of humor."

Ethan gulped. And lo, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and Giles hurried inside letting a little of the dawn's light in.

Giles looked pissed off. He didn't yell, he just slowly stallked across the room and stared at his ex buddy.

"Hello Ethan." Giles said in that soft yet terrifying tone. My Itachi based memory told me that G-man was in the murderous mood.

"Ripper, I'm sorry!" Ethan started to plead right away. He knew Giles better than anyone so he knew he was dead meat. "I just thought it was supposed to be a joke, not as the distraction for some nasty demon sacrifice ritual. You know me, I don't do such stuff."

Giles stared at Ethan unmoved by his plea.

"No you don't do these things, you just want your piece of the chaos and mayhem. No matter who gets hurt or how."

Ethan gulped, this time loudly. "Ripper, I swear I never thought it was supposed to be so serious. But when it started I couldn't back out. I was watched and told that I have to fulfill my end of the deal, or they would kill me."

"Who hired you?" I asked. I had sunglasses to hide my eyes. Sharingan could pick up hints of the lie if you knew how. I did.

Ethan shook his head. "Someone powerful, but I never saw him. He sent vampires to do his leg work. But they called him 'The Boss.' They were scared of him."

"What else you know?" Giles whispered.

"That's all Ripper. Nobody dares to talk about him, they are too scared. But I know he has been in Sunnydale for decades, this sacrifice wasn't the first. He has some major connections in this place-that factory was prepared extra just for me."

Giles looked at me and I nodded. He was telling the truth.

"Ripper, let me go and I swear I will never come back. I will swear on my magic if I have to." Ethan pleaded.

Giles was silent for a while but then he whipped out a stake and shoved it in Ethan's heart. It happened too fast for me to react because I didn't expect it at all.

"Fuck G-man, what did you do that for?!" I shouted in shock.

"What was necessary Xander. Ethan was warned twice and he didn't listen. Xander, people died because of him tonight. He caused several deaths on that Halloween too.

He almost killed Buffy when Eyhgon returned. But this night proved how depraved has he become.

I knew he wouldn't resist the call of the chaos when he did this. Besides he knew too much about us and you. You know this and he would sell us out if he had to."

I was about to argue with him but then I stopped. I killed someone too, just to protect Buffy. I could not blame Giles, I wanted Ethan dead too.

"All right, I guess you knew him better than anyone of us. I trust your judgment. What now?"

Giles sighed as he stared at Ethan's body. "We get rid of the evidence. Can you do that?"

"Sure, you can wait outside. I'll set it all up."

When he left I pulled out a set of tags and taped them on the corpse. These were different. They were made to burn slowly and at extreme temperatures to destroy the corpse. It was meant to be used by Hunter ninjas to get rid of the rogue ninja's corpse. It was the standard procedure. I made those just out of habit Itachi had.

The tags ignited and Ethan's corpse boiled slowly and meat was charred. Soon it was a flaming hot thing and I had to leave the apartment. The fire spread quickly and the place was like a little slice of hell by the time Giles drove away. By the time cops and firemen arrive there will be nothing left of Rayne but ashes.

***

The life went on after the failed attempt to sacrifice babies. Faith wasn't too keen on going to school, but Joyce insisted. She even got foster parenting consent from the state and Faith became a permanent resident at Buffy's place.

Buffy refused to speak with her mom or Giles after realizing they beat up a cop and slept on the hood of his patrol car. Faith loved teasing Giles about it calling him "The stud" and such.

Faith didn't make friends out of our circle, she just could not connect to the kids in her class. They were scared of her since she didn't pull punches if someone pissed her off. Snyder was frothing now, he had two delinquents on the campus. Luckily if he was stalking one Slayer, the other had a free pass out of the school to do what was necessary.

Then came Mrs. Post, the bitch of the day, no a week. Gwendolyn was in her thirties, cold and rude. She tried to take over Faith's training as her new Watcher and said she was also evaluating Giles and Buffy.

That was her first and last mistake. I didn't trust her and insisted that G-man check up on her.

"Giles, did you see that woman? I don't trust her at all. In Itachi's world everyone is checked and double checked again before assuming important functions. Find anything on her, we can't have her finding out about me and what I can do. We both know she would tattle on me immediately."

She told us the story of the Glove of Mynehygon, a powerful artifact that could cause serious trouble for us. I got bored and left the library.

I decided to patrol and went to the Renfield cemetery. It was quiet and calm, until I heard the noise somewhere. It was Angel. He was breaking in one crypt. He had a bundle with him and I stepped out of the bush I was hiding in.

"Hi Angel, what's the what?" I asked.

He was startled but calmed down as he saw it was me. "Hey, Xander I was just about to meet with Buffy."

"You have a gift for her?" I pointed at the bundle.

He nodded. "Kind of. Let's see her first, she is at the entrance."

Buffy was also surprised to see me when I came with Angel.

"Xander, what are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "Just patrolling, and I met your friendly neighborhood vampire who has a gift for you, but I should warn you-he robbed a grave to get it. Isn't that romantic?"

Angel and Buffy glared at me for my sarcasm. I smiled sweetly.

Angel approached her and she kissed him on the cheek. She took the bundle and unwrapped it. Look, there it was! A glove made of metal.

"Let me guess," I drawled, "that's the thing we are looking for? The Glove of Mynehygon."

Buffy nodded. "Angel knew about it, but he let it rest. Now we can get rid of it."

I raised my eyebrows at Angel. "Color me impressed Deadboy, you can be useful it seems. I hope you are restraining your impulses around Buffy, because your bad boy side isn't welcome again."

Angel growled at me, but Buffy stopped him. "He is just baiting you Angel, he knows we will never allow it to happen again." Then she glared at me. "Xander, you should be nicer to him. He is doing his best to stay away, okay?"

"But you do visit him, don't you?" I said pointedly.

"So what? I have that right. And we are careful, don't worry." Buffy said.

"Okay, okay I never said I don't trust you. I'm just worried." I raised my hand in the placating gesture. "And I won't tell your mom."

Buffy smiled in relief. "Thanks Xander. Um, can you take the glove to the library? I'd like to spend some time with Angel."

I nodded. She gave me the bundle and I turned to go.

"Xander, thanks for being reasonable." Angel said to my back. I didn't answer.

They will have to come out in the open sooner or later. Joyce and Giles won't be too happy, although I suspected that G-man already knew. He just didn't want to talk about it.

***

"Hi guys I bring gifts for you!" I announced happily and stopped in the doorway and the door hit me in the back, because no one was there. I searched the library but it was empty. I decided to wait for the gang.

To secure the Glove I sealed it in one of the hidden seals I set up with Giles around the place. Only I knew their exact position since I had the sight for it.

They came a couple of hours late. And they had brought a guest.

Giles was looking angry. Faith looked happy as she dragged Mrs. Post who was unconscious.

"Hi Xander, will you help me tie this bitch up?"

"I guess so Faith." I said and rose to help her. "I take it she didn't pass the screening."

Faith nodded as she chewed her gum. "Right on the spot X. Giles got the news from his pals in England. The bitch was a rogue Watcher, she went missing months ago. And she was looking for the Glove for herself only."

Giles emerged from his office with a wooden box. He approached Mrs. Post and jabbed her with the syringe that wasin it. It was filled with the bluish liquid.

"What's that Giles?" Faith wondered aloud.

"A sedative mixed with a magical suppressor. It will keep Mrs. Post subdued until someone from the Council comes to pick her up. I expect that to be by the next evening, our agents are present in every country." Giles explained.

"Where are the girls?" I asked about Wllow, Cordelia and Amy.

"Home, to avoid being implied in this abduction." Giles told me with smile. "I was surprised that Miss Chase was willing to help us."

I smiled in amused way. "She is full of surprises. What did she do?"

"She gave us the ride to Post's apartment and back here. I whacked her good just near here. Giles was waiting to help me get her here without us being seen. He is a good lookout." Faith explained.

I grinned. That's my girl, she always knew when to not get involved. I sat down and yawned.

"Well, I too have some good news. I have the Glove."

"You do?" Giles said with surprise.

I nodded. "Deadboy knew where it was and he gave it to me. Buffy asked him to find it for us."

Faith was interested. "Angel is still around? We, I mean me and my Watcher were informed he was gone."

I shook my head. "He is still around, but staying away. His Angelus period shook our trust in him. He is still too ashamed of what happened. I saw him a few times during the summer, he was watching our folks for us. Not mine since I was around."

Giles sighed. He was still of two minds about Angel. He will never be so comfortable with his presence in the city. Not after Jenny's death and her grotesque display by Angelus in Giles's bedroom.

"Where is Buffy?" Giles asked.

I looked at him and he got the point.

"She insists still on seeing him?"

"She can't help it, she still cares for him," I answered, "but don't worry I am quite certain she will never allow things to go down the same way they did once."

Faith wrinkled her face in disgust and wonder. "Ain't love blind, huh? Man, what does she see in the corpse?" She turned towards me and made a leering face. "I like them stiff but warm and pulsing, you now."

I could only stare and gulp. She was quite obvious with her statement.

Giles cleared his throat loudly. "That is very, um, informative Faith. Xander please bring me the artifact. I would like to examine it to determine how should we go about destroying it."

"Won't your Watcher pals be unhappy about losing such a thing?" I asked.

"Who cares about their happiness, just get rid of it!" Faith almost growled.

Giles agreed with her."Yes, we can't trust anyone with it. Better we destroy it than have it fall in wrong hands."

"Okay, I just had to ask." I said and went to get the Glove from it's storage seal.

I gave it to Giles who started to study it. I sighed and started to go.

"Wait where are you going?" Faith asked in alarm.

I grinned at her. "I'm thinking about seeing my girlfriend. Giles is going to be on that thing for a while."

Faith paled."You really are a bastard X. You will leave me alone with him and his books!?"

I was out of the library in a second. Sorry F, but I do have my own priorities.


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

With Mrs. Post gone we continued our lives in relative peace. Faith was settling in nicely and Joyce was very welcoming, especially since foster care authorities were obliged to inform her of Faith's early years. They weren't nice. Joyce swore to make it up to her. Of course she never said so to Faith or Buffy in order to avoid embarrassing Faith.

Unfortunately Buffy wasn't too happy. Joyce became aware of her meetings with Angel and gave her a major ass chewing and grounded her. She could go out only with me or Faith, and I was told to keep my eye on her and to be uncompromising with her. Joyce had that look on her that made me very nervous so I had to comply.

It wasn't hard to figure out how Joyce discovered what Buffy was up to- Giles was a manipulative English bastard when he wanted to be.

Considering how Faith was suddenly a golden child in the house, Buffy was fuming. She became snarky, often beat me up while we trained (she'd always say she was sorry after making me blue and purplish) and she was also cold with Faith all of a sudden.

Cordelia was the one who made me aware how bad it was.

"She is going to blow up soon Xander. I know I would have if that slut-o-rama suddenly started to live in my house and my parents liked her better."

"Faith is not a slut and you know it Cordy. Why are you so defensive when she is mentioned?" I asked as we were lying together in the bed. Her bed was big and comfy with nice elastic features which were great when we had sex.

She glared at me for a moment. "Are you blind and deaf? She picks a different guy every week! Hello! And she's been making moves on you too!"

I shook my head. "She was just joking, it's not like I'd have gone along with her proposals and she knows it too."

Cordelia huffed showing me how convinced she was. I smiled and grabbed her ass below the blanket. It was time to show her how much I liked her.

Cordelia's words still remained in my memory as I spied Buffy sitting alone in the quad. Her face was miserable and my heart constricted for a moment. Most students made sure to stay away from her, they could feel her bad mood.

"Hey Buffster, how are you?" I greeted her and sat next to her. "Wanna candybar?"  
She shook her head at my offer.

"Oh come on, talk to your Xander shaped friend! I am a good listener, you know it." I prodded her, but she remained stubbornly silent and sulking.

I glanced at her and grimaced in sympathy. "It's bad I guess. Your mom doesn't let you see Angel, Faith seems to have taken your spot with her and Giles and with us too, am I right?"

"Sheesh how did you figure that out?" Buffy went sarcastic on me. She could be so bitchy sometimes. Oh yeah, she was a highschool bitchy richy doll once.

"Sorry for that Xan, but I'm really in a bad mood." She said after a second of silence. "Even Willow gives me bad looks sometimes."

Uh-oh, if she didn't have Wills she really was stuck by herself. Amy and Cordy were never buddy -buddy with her like Willow was.

"What did you expect Buffy?" I asked. "Willow almost got killed by him and she's still afraid of him. And she adored Miss Calendar big time."

"I liked Miss Calendar too!" Buffy responded hotly.

"No, you tolerated her for Giles's sake. You were never close to her. But that's fine; no one can like every person they meet."

Buffy seemed to get smaller. "Am I really that shallow?"

"No Buffy, you're just human." I said softly. "Where did you get that notion anyway?"  
Buffy looked sad then and I got it. "You had a fight with your mom and some bad words were said, right?"

I couldn't help myself and I laughed.

She punched me lightly on the shoulder. "That's not funny! They, my mom and Giles, made their opinions very clear to me."

"Come on Buff! They were just trying to rattle you up so you would start to take their words seriously. Giles isn't stupid, he must have known about your tete-a-tetes with Angel before I did. He was probably insulted and disappointed so he told your mom. It was obvious you hold her opinion about you in the highest regard."

I sighed then. "Let's be frank, I agree with your mom's reaction. It's only natural that she is acting so strongly, Angel is a vampire and also he is too old for you. I mean even as a soul guy he is over ninety. Cut Joyce some slack will you, it's like seeing a thirty year old dude dating a thirteen year old girl. Picture that please!"

"But it's different for us! I'm not an ordinary girl; I can take care of myself." She protested.

"Sure. I mean, you almost sent him to Hell that day at the mansion-I saw your resolve to do what's right. You had to choose between the world and the eternal damnation of the man you loved. That's why I respect you today. That's why I know it is different for the two of you. That's why I know you won't mess it up ever again."

She shivered at my words. "Thank God you were there Xander. I swear it would have broken my heart, but I was finally ready to kill Angelus. That's why it's so hard to let go."

I hugged her tighter. "I know, I know."

"I'm scared Xander. I don't know what I would do without him."

"I don't know Buff, live? Slay? Make it so that the world keeps turning? Have fun with your pals? Graduate?"

"I guess, I never really expected to live this long-that's why I was so hung up on my only chance to have something my own. My love. My only love." Buffy whispered.  
I was stunned at those words. Buffy was in serious funk.

"Hey, don't be like that! That's why you have me and the gang. We're here for you, just like you're here for us. I can promise you this-you will not go alone when the time comes.

And it will be spectacular and far, far in the future. You will graduate, you will attend college-Willow won't let you pass it up."

She was crying a little and smiling. "God, you're right. Willow won't let anyone miss the joys of the college education. What was I thinking?"

"You weren't, that's what. Now be cool, show the ropes to Faith and don't blame her for your troubles. You're sisters practically, youu should stick together. She should be your rant buddy whenever something goes wrong for you. That's how Jesse and I were. We shared our dreams and hopes, our good days and bad ones."

"You seem to have done for him what he always wanted." Buffy said in jest.

"Yeah, I did. I'm really great guy, am I?" I grinned.

"Yes you are Xander Harris. I was a bitch lately, right?" Buffy sounded abashed.

"Well," I drawled, "nobody's perfect."

"Oh really? What am I lacking in your so expert opinion?"

"Hmm, not much really. If you had Cordelia's boobs and your mom's ass you'd be perfect."

"What?" Buffy was surprised.

"Hey you asked." I said in my defense.

"I mean my mom's ass? Are you saying my mother has better bottom than I do?" She was pissed.

"Err, maybe?" I guessed.

She grabbed my biceps and squeezed, Slayer hard.

"Come on, I was just joking!" I pleaded.

"Just one thing Xander, an advice from a friend. Never, I mean, never tell a teenage pretty girl that her mom is in any way or shape better. I so have much better ass than my mom!

And don't you dare ask to feel me up-or my mom for that matter, or else…"

I nodded vigorously and she let me go. Man, what would she do if she knew how much of her mom's ass I "felt".

Things got better afterwards. I think Buffy had a long talk with her mom since her curfew disappeared. Giles got the transfer papers for Faith and she had to start going to the school with us. She scared her classmates since she was so pissed off.

Me, I continued hunting when I was able to. One night I was patrolling the docks in the search for nests but I found none. But I wasn't discouraged, Sunnydale marine area was a big place.

It was full moon. Oz was locked up in the cage and Willow was keeping him company. If you can believe it, he liked it when she read him stories. He'd sleep and snore like an old dog.

I felt something and whirled around.

"Shit Deadboy!" I hissed and lowered the stake. "What are you doing here?"

"Buffy asked me to keep an eye on you, just in case." Angel said and crouched by me.

"Really? Well that's nice to hear. Did you happen to notice any nasties?"

"No. But I am impressed by your skills."

"Oh, I am so pleased to hear your compliments." It was obvious that I wasn't.

"You should be." Angel nodded ignoring my sarcasm. "You kill three to four vampires a night, when they are present. That's not a small feat, even for a Slayer. You remind me of Holtz sometimes."

"Who?"

"He used to be a very skilled and determined hunter. He made me and Darla run across the world centuries ago."

"Well, I like him a lot then. So you've been following me for a while."

"Not so much, just a few nights really. I stay away and kill the strays you miss. Luckily you are pretty reasonable when you hunt; you never take on more than two vampires at once. Those eyes of yours, they are powerful." Angel spoke in silent tone. With all that sea close, sounds carried far and well.

"Perhaps, but not as much as they could be." I muttered knowing he would catch it.

"Is that so?" He sounded curious.

"Trust me you don't want to know."

"They look pretty inhuman to me, demonic even." he said and I turned to him. He was staring at me hard, almost accusing.

"Is that so?" I mimicked his earlier phrase of speech. "How would you even know what Sharingan is? It's not even real as far as we know. Just a magicked copy of the fictional thing."

He looked uncomfortable. "There have been cases when humans were in brief contact with demons, with their flesh or blood, or their energy. It is said that sometimes humans developed a copy of the demonic ability. It is usually referred to as 'the aspect of the demon'. Many tales of people with unusual abilities are based on such cases."

I felt uncomfortable. The fact was, the Sharingan was in part demonic since the Six paths Sage was the first jinchuuriki-a human host to the demon called Juubi. Itachi heard this tale from Uchiha Madara's mouth and he had no reason to disbelieve it. Madara was in fact proud to say he was a scion of the Sage, no matter how corrupt his blood was.

Itachi was disgusted to learn of this. But it explained many things about the Mangekyou  
Sharingan. God, I hope it wasn't real!

But Angel seemed to hear something. "I hear noise in the distance. I think it's the sound of the car."

We lied down on the roof to hide ourselves. Soon, several vehicles rolled on the dock below, one truck and a limousine. I activated my Sharingan to see better and Angel went vamp.

The truck was without any distinct markings, its paint was boring gray and white. The limousine was black, like so many others. I could tell that the drivers of both vehicles were vamps, but the man in the limo was human. Well I think so, but something was off about him.

When I saw who he was I froze. Angel's demonic eyes widened and we exchanged disbelieving stares. It was Richard Wilkins the Third, the mayor of Sunnydale.

Giles wasn't happy in the mansion where we met. It was to be expected, Angel was there. There was an air of hostility around G-man, but he held his composure-we had a bigger problem.

"Xander, are you sure it was the Mayor?" Giles asked me for the God knows how many times. He just wasn't able to accept the fact that our popular politician was such a dark figure. He sure did a superb acting, Oscar worthy.

"Yeah G-man, it was him. My eyes don't lie. And Angel saw him too. So he is a black mage?"

Giles tossed a glass of old scotch to calm himself. "If we're lucky."

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"That means he is not so powerful." Angel answered form his chair in the far corner of the room. "If he is a sorcerer, he might be untouchable. It is very likely he has made pacts with the denizens of the hell dimensions to gain power and immortality. That's what they always do. I came across such people before, and they are even worse than your average vampire."

"So how do we get him? We call the Council; they must have means to act against him." I said.

"No, that would not work Xander." Giles said bitterly. "I am sure he would know immediately if the Council's wizards were to arrive. And to be frank, we don't have powerful casters among us, not on such scale. In order to get him we have to catch him unawares."

"How? We can't attack him ourselves, he has too many demons on his side and he is magically more powerful than you." Angel noted.

"So what do we do? Send him a letter bomb and hope it kills him?" I said half jokingly.

Giles paused and gave us his best, scariest Ripper smile. "Actually, I was thinking about sending him a book."

"Excuse me?" I said in confusion.

Angel looked intrigued so he explained. "Every magic practitioner tries to get his hands on whatever magic tome or diary he can. It's the base rule that knowledge is power, and in magic circles it is very much so. Every mystical text has its enormous value even if you do not use it-at least you deny its use to others."

"Exactly!" Giles exclaimed. "He won't be able to resist getting his dirty hands on such a thing-only we will put in it as much firepower as we can. Xander's exploding seals will do rather nicely. I doubt he will detect such danger, he has never come across such type of power."

"Wait, you want me to make a whole book of the exploding tags? That will be able to bring the whole building down!"

Giles nodded. "Regretfully so, but that man is too dangerous to go after with half measures."

Angel stared at him. "You do understand that this plan will kill many people besides him. If it works."

"I bloody well do!" Giles growled, "but that man has been in control of the Hellmouth for so long, and the demons are afraid of him. That means trouble on the apocalyptic scale. We can not play soft, not with the whole world at stake."

***

The plan was simple in the end. I started to make those exploding pages in the faux magic tome, pretty thick one if you ask me. I read a rare tome from Giles's stash to copy some texts and gibberish to hide the presence of the seals on the pages.

Angel managed to set up an accidental find of that tome; supposedly it was searched for by Angelus. He planted rumor or two about it and we let the snitches like Willy do the rest.

It took three weeks to do the job. It was Willy who got the reward for finding the 'Tome of Muhr'. I have no idea who or what he was, but supposedly he was a major badass in the ancient times. Giles set it all up. I just did what he said to do.

I put the tracking seal on the book to make sure of it's location. Also I had to tie another seal to Giles's detector rune for dark magic. That way we could tell if it was the Mayor who held the tome.

Angel and I tracked it to the City Hall. It spoke volumes about Mayor's power-he was doing his magic business in the public office. He was sure no one could touch him. Also it led us to believe that all employees in the Hall were under his influence.

The two of us settled on the roof of the building across the City Hall making sure we stayed unseen.

I felt it then. "He has it now."

Angel sighed. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "There can be no mistake, the seals are functioning."

"Do it."

I closed my eyes and asked God to forgive me. "Katsu."

The sound was terrible, it was as if the world was falling apart and the fireball engulfed the whole top floor of the City Hall and expanded thirty meters above the roof-which, was gone at the time. The shockwave threw us on the roof. Cars and other things on the street were tossed away; the pavement cracked forming rifts to the underground.

The hall was crumbling down fast in fire and smoke, and the pieces of the walls and roof were just coming back down amidst the glass droplets. We had to find cover within our building.

"God Harris how much power did you put in that thing?!" Angel yelled at me.

"Not enough to do this, trust me! There must have been something else in his place to add to the blast, or maybe he was it. How the hell should I know?"

I was telling the truth. Chakra and magic seemed to react to each other; at least they seemed to do so when Giles and I studied seals and raw magic. Giles was able to make some seals with magic, but not always. I think we will stop experiments, it was obviously too risky.

By the time cops and fire squads arrived we were gone.

The weeks afterwards were hectic. The cleanup continued for days and then there were feds in the town investigating the terrorist activity. FBI, DEA, NSA- name it, it was here. Everyone wanted to know what happened and who did it.

Let's say that the Sunnydale PD got trashed soundly and half of the police force was reassigned to other cities, far, far behind God's ass. They will never be able to work in a decent city. Stein disappeared without trace. He was probably hiding.

The school was put on hold for two long weeks and the students enjoyed their sudden vacation.

The demonic citizens of the Sunnydale became remarkably inconspicuous. There were no strange deaths or disappearances, no weird sightings. They knew the score-if they were seen or heard it would lead to major disaster. They knew it was in their interest to be unknown. So we, the Scoobies also were on the vacation.

Giles and Angel decided to keep this secret so not even Buffy was aware of the truth. I didn't tell Cordy or Joyce. We believed it was better that way in case someone decides to ask around. Plausible denial and all that.

As for Wilkins, well his reign of the Sunnydale ended abruptly and many rich folks and politicians around the States suddenly started to drop. It was not difficult to connect their loses with Wilkins.

And we did manage to discover his plan-his assistant; Mr. Finch wasn't in the building that evening. In fact he was planning his getaway from the city.

Our Mayor was a bad guy, a major bad guy in fact. He built this town as the feeding ground for some powerful demons and in turn they protected him and assisted in the Ascension. Giles nearly had a heart attack when he discovered that.

The Ascension was a process where one could become a pure demon, a demon with capital D. Finch explained how his boss was hoarding necessary ingredients for the ritual that was supposed to culminate at the Graduation of the current senior class, my class.  
To fuel his change he was supposed to eat the attendees and devour their souls to ascend to the true demonic existence. He already sold his soul for immortality, so it was one way street for the bastard. He knew he was going to Hell, but he wanted to go there as a badass, not as the bitch.

I had to admire his sheer audacity. That was the man who played for all or nothing. He got nothing but eternal damnation. Hope he gets roasted good.

Finch gave us the books about the Ascension and some other nasty magic never heard from him again.

The Council was never informed of these events by G-man, as they were concerned this was just a mundane act of violence.

I was glad it was over. The only thing I regretted was the killing of the other people in the City Hall-I still believed some were innocent.

I felt a distant chuckle in my mind. I recognized it-Metatron was again in my head.

"What's so funny?" I asked rudely. I wasn't in the sharing mood exactly.

"OH, THE IRONY OF IT ALL. EVEN I DID NOT SEE HOW IT WOULD END FOR WILKINS. AS IT GOES IT IS SO AMUSING. YOU KNOW, HE DIED IN THE SAME MANNER IN THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE. BY YOUR BOMB, AGAIN!"

"Really?" I was shocked.

"YES, IT WAS FATE I WOULD SAY."

"Crap, that's creepy if you ask me."

"PERHAPS. I TAKE IT AS A SIGN FROM OUR LORD THAT HIS WILL CANNOT BE , WILKINS WASN'T THE ONLY ONE TO TRY THIS RITUAL. BUT NONE SUCCEDED."

"Why not?" I was curious.

"THE AGE OF DEMONS IS LONG GONE AND IT SHALL NEVER COME AGAIN. THE FACT IS, EVERY TIME SOMEONE TRIES TO PERFORM SUCH REALITY SHIFTING ACT THE FORCES OF THE BALANCE WILL REACT ACCORDINGLY."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? I still murdered a lot of ordinary people." I said bitterly. "I tried to think of another way, but I couldn't."

"THAT IS WHAT MEANS TO BE HUMAN XANDER HARRIS. TAKE SOLACE IN THIS-NO ONE WHO DIED THAT DAY WAS INNOCENT. THE LORD MADE IT SO AS A REWARD FOR YOUR COURAGE AND FAITH. YOU PRAYED AND WERE HEARD."

I swallowed my response, I doubt it would have been coherent. There was a sense of relief in my gut.

Metatron faded from my mind and I felt much better about the whole deal. I will never forget how I managed to overcome my misgivings about the bombing for the greater good. Itachi would be proud. It was truly dangerous way of thinking.

* * *

A.N. : My thanks goes to **Dragonhulk(from Twisting the Hellmouth Fanfiction Archive)**, he beta-ed this one and I am forever grateful for his help. God bless you man!


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